A diamond content modeling exercise at the Renard Diamond Project's Renard 65 kimberlite pipe has shown promising results.



In a report published by the Stornoway Diamond Corporation, the exercise at Renard 65 – the Renard cluster's largest kimberlite pipe – showed a diamond content of 26-38 carats per hundred tons (CPHT) in four kimberlite lithologies, an increase over results previously achieved by sampling.



The exercise also indicated the existence of large, valuable single diamonds in the Renard 65 pipe.



Renard 65, whose surface area covers some 1.7 hectares, is the largest kimberlite pipe of the Renard cluster. Despite the 2003 discovery of a 4.04-carat diamond at Renard 65, sampling showed lower diamond content in that pipe than in other kimberlite pipes belonging to the Renard cluster, and Renard 65 was not include in the Renard Preliminary Assessment.



However, recent findings have indicated that the pipe's diamond contents might have been underestimated, and Stornoway decided to use the latest diamond content modeling technology to get a more accurate picture of the pipe.



Stornoway President and CEO Matt Manson said that this recent diamond content modeling was an example of the geological and diamond analysis the company was using to reach a detailed understanding of diamond contents of the Renard kimberlite pipes.

"We now believe that Renard 65 has the potential to add value to an operating Renard diamond mine, which would be developed initially on the higher-grage Renard 2, 3, and 4 ore bodies," Manson stated.



Stornoway's president noted that while no change in the Renard mine plan was envisioned at this time, the results of the company's recent exercise would be taken into consideration in development plans for the Renard 65 pipe.