RE: Street Wire
Shore adds to its diamond haul
2005-11-07 15:10 ET - Street Wire
by Will Purcell
Shore Gold Inc. has another diamond parcel from its Star kimberlite. The busy company processed another 10 batches of rock from the mammoth Saskatchewan pipe, coming up with another dose of encouragement and the usual crop of questions. The results continue to point to a potentially economic zone of kimberlite in the depths of the pipe and a closer look at the latest numbers adds confidence to the average result. Still, Shore will have to determine the grade over a far wider zone before the company proves its sample grades apply to most of the early Joli Fou kimberlite found within Star.
The latest numbers
Shore processed another 10 individual batches of kimberlite from the pipe. The rock weighed 1,895.5 tonnes and the material delivered another 344 carats to the company's expanding diamond parcel. That works out to an average grade of about 0.182 carat per tonne, handily topping the first 14 batches that the company processed in its 2005 bulk sample.
Shore processed 3,920.84 tonnes of Star rock in that first set of samples. The material yielded 513 carats, which pointed to a grade of about 0.135 carat per tonne. That represented a significant drop over what the company found in its 2004 bulk sampling program, and the lower value triggered some uneasiness with investors. Still, a closer look at the results from the new program suggested the worries were unwarranted.
The concern nevertheless sent Shore's shares to an intraday low of $6 in the days after the news. That was down from $6.80, but the slump proved short. Speculators quickly shrugged off the lower grades, sending Shore to another new high early this month. Much of the new enthusiasm stems from the company's takeover of Kensington Resources Ltd. and a voting deal with Cameco Corp.
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