The Stornoway Diamond Corporation and Shear Minerals announced that processing of the minibulk sample from the Notch kimberlite at the Churchill Diamond Project in Nunavut was complete and indicated an overall diamond recovery of 86.2 carats per hundred ton.

According to Trading Markets, the figures indicated a total of 129 diamonds greater than 1.18 mm were recovered from 17.26 dry tons of Notch kimberlite. The five largest recovered stones weigh 0.92, 0.81, 0.77, 0.63, 0.63 carats.

"We are very pleased with the substantial increase in +1.18mm diamond grade of the Notch kimberlite in comparison to previous results and the presence of larger diamonds," the report quoted Shear President and CEO Pamela Strand as saying. "Notch is the second kimberlite to be minibulk sampled and return potentially economic grades at Churchill. This 14.87 carat parcel provides us with a more representative sample of the Notch diamond population that will be examined to determine the next steps in the continued evaluation of the Churchill Diamond Project."