Shore digs deeper into Orion South

Shore Gold Inc (C:SGF)
Shares Issued 182,599,460
Last Close 12/19/2007 $3.74
Thursday December 20 2007 - Street Wire

by Will Purcell

Shore Gold Inc. is making good progress digging a shaft into the Orion South kimberlite complex in the Fort a la Corne district of Saskatchewan. The company will use the shaft to collect a big bulk sample of the body through much of next year. Based on earlier work, Shore is optimistic the result will yield potentially economic diamond grades and values.

Shore's vice-president of exploration, Pieter du Plessis, said the vertical excavation for the shaft was on a schedule that would have it hit kimberlite before the end of the year. The company expects its crews will take a few days off for Christmas, so the Orion South shaft is already close to the top of the huge pipe.

Mr. du Plessis said that Shore expected to start excavating kimberlite from the shaft early next year and the dig would progress to a vertical depth of about 210 metres. From there, Shore expects to branch out horizontally to the north and south on the 180-metre level, much as it did at Star. The big bulk test will consume much of the year and investors can expect a steady stream of results to start sometime before summer.

Most of the rock from Star came from the 235-metre level, but Shore believes the richer rock within Orion South lies at shallower depths and that could bode well for an eventual mine. The company expects to encounter a few metres of late Joli Fou kimberlite at the top of the Orion South body, but it believes it will quickly pass into the richer early Joli Fou kimberlite. As well, a significant amount of Pense kimberlite lies beneath the early Joli Fou material.

Mr. du Plessis, a former South African native, said Shore expected the excavation would progress faster than it did at Star, partly because the Orion South material lies several tens of metres closer to the surface. The company also has a better handle on the geology at Orion South, thanks to earlier exploration programs that provided kimberlite samples from well over 100 core holes, as well as a series of large diameter drill tests. At Star, Shore only had a small fraction of that data before it started its bulk sample.

Mr. du Plessis said that Shore would follow the same strategy at Orion South as it did at Star, which would result in a huge bulk sample spread over two or three phases if the results are encouraging. The target for the first phase of the bulk test is for Shore to acquire at least 1,000 carats from each of the three main rock units, which includes two phases of early Joli Fou kimberlite, and the Pense rock. In all, Shore would wind up with at least 3,000 carats from the first bulk test, comparable with its first sample at Star.

There is one key difference between the two tests. Shore's dig at Star had the company sink its shaft near the vent of the early Joli Fou kimberlite, toward the southwestern corner of the huge, mushroom-like body. At Orion South, the company is sinking its shaft at a central location, but well away from the early Joli Fou vent.

Shore is optimistic that its main rock units will deliver grades and gem values comparable with Star. The company reviewed old drill data and the numbers augur well for the early Joli Fou material. About 2,280 tonnes of that rock produced an average grade of 0.101 carat per tonne and a mean diamond weight of 0.120 carat. The values are lower than at Star, but losses through reverse circulation drilling could account for the difference.

The potential of the Pense rock is less clear. Shore drilled up 1,448 tonnes of the material about a year ago and recovered 78.22 carats. The average grade was about 0.054 carat and the mean stone weight was 0.108 carat, so Shore will need better numbers.

Shore closed down a penny to $3.74 Wednesday on 367,700 shares.

© 2007 Canjex Publishing Ltd.