Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), Northern Empire Minerals Ltd. (NEM:TSXV) and BHP Billiton today announced that two additional kimberlites have been discovered on the Churchill Diamond Project. Drill holes CD006 and CD007, designed to test circular magnetic high anomalies measuring 250 m by 200 m and 150 m by 150 m respectively, intersected two new kimberlite bodies named Kalluk-3 and Kalluk-4. 

The current phase of drilling will test a minimum of 15 targets of the 217 geophysical targets identified to date on the property. This brings the total number of kimberlites discovered on the project to five: the Qaumallak (Lightning), Kalluk-1 (Thunder) through Kalluk-4 kimberlites.

"The goal of this year's program is to establish whether there are kimberlite pipes within the project boundaries and their spatial distribution. We are drilling geophysical anomalies in areas where we have good regional chemistry. We are collecting enough kimberlite to obtain a representative microdiamond sample," said Ms. Strand. "The level of success realized at such an early stage in our drill program increases the opportunity to establish an entirely new kimberlite province in an area of Canada that is under-explored for diamonds."

To date six targets have been tested and five have resulted in new kimberlite discoveries. Drill hole CD005 was terminated prematurely after penetrating 45 feet of granite bedrock due to poor drilling conditions. The target remains unexplained and warrants future investigation.

The 2003 program is under the supervision of Dean Besserer, P. Geol. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Mr. Besserer is responsible for all aspects of the projects supervision including Quality Assurance, Quality Control, and sample Chain of Custody. 

Shear has a 51% interest and is operator of all exploration programs. Northern Empire is earning into a 35% interest by incurring $750,000 in exploration expenditures. BHP Billiton has a 14% interest in Churchill and has also agreed to fund the costs of collection, sampling and processing the initial 200 tonnes of kimberlite.

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