Sunrise Diamonds PLC
14 August 2006
www.sunrisediamonds.com
14 August 2006
JOINT VENTURE AGREEMENT SIGNED
OVER 16 KIMBERLITES IN FINLAND'S KARELIAN CRATON
• Most Of Kimberlites In Kaavi-Kuopio Area Are Diamondiferous
• Several Pipes Already Targeted For Further Sampling
• Synergy With BHP-Billiton Diamond Exploration Database
_______________________________________________________________________
Sunrise Diamonds plc ('Sunrise' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce that it
has signed a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Canada's Nordic Diamonds
Ltd ('Nordic') under which Sunrise may earn up to a 75% joint venture interest
in claims covering 16 of the 20 known kimberlite pipes in the Kaavi-Kuopio area
of south-central Finland, most of which are diamondiferous.
Sunrise already holds claim applications over two of the other four pipes in
this cluster and had previously identified a number of the pipes covered by the
Nordic agreement as targets for further sampling. The 16 pipes range in size up
to 2.2 hectares and were discovered by Ashton Mining and its joint venture
partners in the period prior to that company's takeover by Rio Tinto in 2000,
when the emphasis of diamond exploration switched to Canada.
Recent work by Nordic on the joint venture claims focused on data compilation
and also on drilling two of the previously discovered pipes (Pipes 12 and 21),
with the intent of re-evaluating diamond content and kimberlite geology. Nordic
drill core samples from Pipe 21 (reported area approximately 1.3 hectares)
returned high micro-diamond counts of up to 1.84 micro-diamonds/kg of kimberlite
supporting the results of a 16.6 tonne mini-bulk sample previously taken by
Ashton Mining in 1995, which returned a reported grade of 26.7 carats per
hundred tonnes including a stone of 1.13 carats. Approximately 79% of the
micro-diamonds recovered by Nordic were reported to be white and 91%
transparent.
The joint venture claims also include three kimberlite pipes lying within five
kilometres of the Lahtojoki kimberlite (Pipe 7), currently being bulk-sampled by
European Diamonds plc. They also cover a number of kimberlite targets such as
the high priority 'Target 295' kimberlite indicator mineral anomaly where
numerous G10 garnets, kimberlitic ilmenites and kimberlitic rock fragments were
found.
The agreement with Nordic allows Sunrise to earn up to a 75% Joint Venture
Interest by sole funding exploration expenditure totalling Euros 1,000,000
within 4 years There is no fixed expenditure obligation during the initial 12
month period of the agreement other than to pay ongoing government claim costs.
The Company is required to spend a minimum of Euros 150,000 by the end of year
two and a minimum total of Euros 500,000 by the end of year three, after which
it will have earned an initial 51% Joint Venture Interest.
The new joint venture area supplements the Company's ongoing exploration of its
newly discovered Kuusamo kimberlite cluster in northern Finland and complements
the acquisition last December of rights to the BHP Billiton diamond exploration
database for Finland. The latter includes extensive exploration data on the
Kaavi-Kuopio area collected by BHP Billiton subsidiary Diamet and its former
joint venture partner Ashton Mining.
'This agreement is another piece of the diamond exploration jigsaw we are
assembling in Finland', said Sunrise chairman, Mr Patrick Cheetham. 'It will
increase the number of diamondiferous kimberlites under evaluation and take us
further down the road towards a commercial discovery'.
Further Info:
Patrick Cheetham, Sunrise Diamonds plc. Tel: +44 (0)1625-505947.
Mob: +44 (0)7767-458751
John Greenhalgh/Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd. Tel: +44 ( 0)20-7628-5518
The information in this release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. Patrick
Cheetham (MIMMM, MAusIMM) who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIM
Guidance Note for Mining Oil & Gas Companies issued on March 16, 2006. Mr
Cheetham is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and also a
member of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange