Stornoway Diamond Corporation (TSX:SWY), BHP Billiton, and Hunter Exploration Group are pleased to announce that the spring drill program has been completed at the Aviat Project on the Melville Peninsula, Nunavut, and a new kimberlite body has been discovered. The summer 2006 till sampling and prospecting program has commenced, and includes a component of infield till sample processing that will be used to prioritize targets for drilling later in the season. 

Mobilization commenced on the property in early May and work began on May 15. The spring drilling program consisted of a total of 2,136m in 15 drillholes. More than 50 kimberlite intervals were intersected in 13 of the 15 holes. The program was designed to test dip and strike extensions to known AV bodies and unresolved geophysical targets.

A new kimberlite was intersected in three drill holes approximately 200 metres east of the previously known AV7 kimberlite outcrop. Continuous intersections of kimberlite were recovered from a vertical hole (DDH 06-AV7E-01; 5.7m; 64.0-69.7m) and two holes inclined at -50 degrees (DDH 06-AV7E-02; 5.0m; 94.8-99.8m and 06-AV7E-03; 5.7m; 97.6-103.3m). Drill holes 06-AV7E-01 and 02 were drilled from the same set-up, DDH 06-AV7E-03 was collared 50m to the north of the original setup.

The new kimberlite consists of light brown olivine macrocrystic hypabyssal breccia kimberlite with a serpentine-phlogopite-carbonate groundmass, with intervals of olivine macrocrystic hypabyssal kimberlite. Textures are consistent with transitional tuffisitic kimberlite phases observed from bodies AV-1 and AV-4, two of the larger bodies identified on the property to date. Abundant indicator minerals including eclogitic garnet, pyrope garnet, ilmenite and chromite were observed as well as altered mantle nodules (with preserved pyrope garnets). Granitoid xenoliths are also present. Flow textures, contact relationships and hole to hole correlations may suggest a north-northwest trending set of moderately to steeply east-dipping dykes. Samples of this kimberlite will be submitted for microdiamonds analyses by caustic fusion, with results expected by the end of July.

This initial drilling targeted the southern portion of an elliptical magnetic anomaly elongated in a north-northwest direction and measuring approximately 100m x 150m. Similar magnetic lows were identified to the north-northwest during the spring ground geophysical program and trend into a region of unsourced, highly anomalous till samples with diamond inclusion chemistry.

Eira Thomas commented: "This style of kimberlite has not been commonly observed on the property and has never been found preserved at surface as boulders or outcrop. Excitingly, this could represent the source of at least one of our high priority kimberlitic indicator mineral anomalies which contains abundant G10 garnets suggestive of high diamond potential".

Elsewhere on the Aviat Project, a total of 12 additional holes were completed during the spring exploration program, with kimberlite intersections of up to 3.9m thickness encountered in 10 of the 12 holes.

Drilling at the AV8 kimberlite intersected three horizons of shallowly west dipping, north trending kimberlite sheets. The middle horizon has a true thickness of approximately 3-4m, has been intersected over an area of approximately 200 by 250m and is thought to be continuous with the AV8 outcrop identified last year. In addition to the 3-4m thick kimberlite body, the three horizons (each separated by approximately a 10m vertical distance) also contain multiple intersections of thin (<0.1 to 1.5m) kimberlite.

Spring drilling at the AV2 kimberlite has provided sufficient information to determine the orientation of kimberlite intersections encountered in previous drilling. Two distinct parallel kimberlite bodies have been encountered over an area of about 150m. The lower and thicker unit has a true width of about 3.3m, dipping gently to the east.

Recent lake based drilling at AV3 South over an area of about 125m by 225m suggests the presence of two north-northeast trending, gently west dipping (10-15 degrees) kimberlite sills with a vertical separation of about 20m. Drilling was hampered by poor core recoveries due to broken and faulted ground related to a brittle fault zone pre-dating the kimberlite. The maximum continuous recovery of kimberlite core is 1.2m.

Two holes tested the AV7 kimberlite. Results indicate a north-northeast trending, gently east dipping body over a strike length of 150 metres and a dip extent of 100 metres. Lake based drilling located approximately 100 metres to the southeast of the AV7 outcrop collared in macrocrystic hypabyssal kimberlite at the lake bottom. It is believed that some kimberlite was lost to erosion of the lake bottom. A land-based hole drilled 60 metres to the northeast of the AV7 kimberlite intersected a continuous 1.3 metre intersection of hypabyssal macrocrystic kimberlite.

Two drillholes tested magnetic targets in a small lake located approximately 400 metres to the southeast of the AV5 dykes, no kimberlite was intersected in these holes.

All kimberlite intersections have been logged and sampled and will be submitted for microdiamonds analyses by caustic fusion, with results expected by the end of July or early August.

In addition to these results, 12.6 tonnes of kimberlite extracted in 2005 remain to be processed by dense media separation (DMS) for macro-diamonds (see table below for breakdown). Results will be received throughout the summer and will be reported as they become available. Kimberlite AV7 will be processed first, followed by the AV8 body. 

With the spring drilling complete, the summer 2006 prospecting and till sampling program has commenced. An infield till sample processing test program has already confirmed that the technique is a viable means of rapidly identifying anomalous indicator mineral samples in the Tremblay Corridor. Stornoway anticipates that the application of this technique will allow specific areas of interest to be prioritized for drilling later in the summer.

A budget for a $3.6 million work program at Aviat in 2006 has now been approved by the partners and will be sole funded by Stornoway, with BHPB electing to dilute.

Stornoway's diamond exploration programs are conducted under the direction of Robin Hopkins, P.Geol. (NT/NU), a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.

On behalf of the Board
STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORPORATION
/s/ "Eira Thomas"
Eira Thomas