Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), Stornoway Diamond Corporation (SWY:TSXV) and BHP Billiton announced today an additional $1.5 million has been budgeted for an expanded exploration program on the Churchill Diamond Project for 2003. 

The program will entail additional ground geophysics, geochemical sampling and drilling. The ground geophysical surveys will focus on airborne targets located throughout the property. Drilling will test approximately ten priority geophysical targets, which include some EM-only anomalies. 

"The increased exploration budget and accelerated timing is based on the success of the first phase of exploration," says Shear President and CEO Pamela Strand.

All kimberlite samples from the first phase of the 2003 exploration program have been submitted to the Saskatchewan Research Council in Saskatoon, an independent laboratory, for microdiamond analysis. The results of all eleven kimberlites sampled will be reported simultaneously, around mid-September. 

The Churchill project encompasses more than 1.5 million acres located near the community of Rankin Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. The 2003 field program is under the supervision of Dean Besserer, P. Geol. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. Shear has a 51% interest and is operator on the Churchill Diamond Project. Stornoway Diamond Corporation and BHP Billiton have 35% and 14% interests respectively.

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