Stornoway Diamond Corporation (SWY:TSX), Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), and BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc. (BHP Billiton) announced today that spring exploration drilling on the Churchill Diamond Project has commenced and a new kimberlite has been intersected in the first hole. 

Drill hole number 05KD428-02 was designed to test KD5071, a circular magnetic high with associated EM geophysical anomaly. The vertical drill hole tested the centre of the anomaly and intersected kimberlite at a depth of 11.5m and the hole remains in kimberlite at a depth of 71m.

This spring program will test high priority lake-based, geophysical targets situated within the Sedna and Josephine River corridors, where anomalous concentrations of kimberlitic indicator minerals with prospective diamond chemistry have been identified from till sampling work completed between 2001 and 2004. The geophysical targets selected for drilling are located within relatively constrained, discrete mineral trains containing high-interest indicator mineral chemistry that does not appear to correlate with the kimberlites drilled to date on the Churchill Project.

A 36 person camp has been established within the centrally located Josephine River Corridor. This location allows crews and drill and equipment to be mobilized overland in order to minimize the down time related to weather that limits aircraft usage. Ground geophysical crews are on site and have completed 25 surveys over selected high interest anomalies. Geophysics will include ground magnetics, HLEM and selected nanoTEM. 

Drilling will continue through to the end of the summer season and will focus on land-based targets within the same areas of interest. Later in the summer season additional drill targets may be added to the program should any anomalous high interest results emerge from yet to be received 2004 till samples.

The Churchill Diamond Project is comprised of mineral rights to more than 9 million acres located near the community of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. The project is owned by joint venture partners Shear, which has a 51% interest and is the operator, Stornoway (35%) and BHP Billiton (14%). Since 2003, 25 kimberlites have been discovered over a wide area on the Churchill and Churchill West projects. The 2005 field program is under the supervision of Jennifer Burgess, P. Geo., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.