Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO of Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. ("Ashton"), is pleased to report initial diamond results for the Renard 9 kimberlitic body in the Otish Mountains region of north-central Quebec.
Renard 9 is one of the eight kimberlitic intrusions discovered by Ashton and its joint venture partner, SOQUEM INC. ("SOQUEM"), on the Foxtrot property. Renard 9 is situated within the 0.5 square kilometre area that also encompasses the diamondiferous Renard 2, 3, 4, 8 and 65 kimberlitic bodies. As announced on April 10, 2003, Renard 9 was discovered by drilling, from the same setup, three angle holes at inclinations of 50, 55 and 60 degrees from horizontal across a geophysical anomaly. The anomaly is approximately 160 m in length and has a surface width that ranges from 20 to 60 m.
A 212.4 kg sample of core from the drill holes was processed for diamonds by caustic dissolution at Ashton's North Vancouver laboratory. Approximately 60 percent of this material consisted of kimberlitic breccia. The remainder was composed of hypabyssal material. The following table presents the results of the caustic dissolution analysis in square mesh sieve format.
|
Sample Weight (kg)
|
Numbers of Diamonds According to Sieve Size Fraction (mm)
|
Total Number of Diamonds
|
|
+0.100
-0.150
|
+0.150
-0.212
|
+0.212
-0.300
|
+0.300
-0.425
|
+0.425
-0.600
|
+0.600 - 0.850
|
+0.850 - 1.18
|
+1.18 - 1.70
|
+1.70
- 2.36
|
|
212.4
|
43
|
48
|
38
|
21
|
9
|
17
|
1
|
0
|
1 (Note 1)
|
178
|
Note 1: This diamond is a pale brown composite crystal that weighs 0.11 carat.
The joint venture is encouraged by these results which compare favourably to the initial diamond results derived from the other kimberlitic bodies within the Renard cluster. Consideration will therefore be given to delineation drilling and the collection of a mini-bulk sample from Renard 9 as part of the 2004 program.
SOQUEM is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SGF Minéral inc., a subsidiary of Société générale de financement du Québec ("SGF"). The mission of the SGF, as an industrial and financial holding company, is to carry out economic development projects, especially in the industrial sector, in cooperation with partners and in accordance with accepted requirements for profitability that comply with the economic development policy of the Government of Quebec.
Ashton is the operator of the exploration programs and Brooke Clements, Professional Geologist and Ashton's Vice President, Exploration, is responsible for their design and conduct and the verification and quality assurance of analytical results.
For further information, please contact:
Robert T. Boyd -or- Salimah Lalli -or- visit our website:
President and CEO Investor Relations www.ashton.ca
(604) 983-7750 (604) 983-7750 investor@ashton.ca