Stornoway Diamond Corporation (SWY:TSX) and Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV) today announced that they have acquired all of BHP Billiton Diamond Inc.'s ("BHPB") interest in the Churchill Diamond Project pursuant to an agreement dated April 18, 2007. Stornoway and Shear each acquired 50% of the BHPB's 12.5% interest for the sum of $4 million each, by paying $1.25 million cash and issuing common shares valued at $2.75 million. Stornoway issued an aggregate of 2,200,000 common shares at a deemed price of $1.25 per share and Shear issued an aggregate of 3,928,571 common shares at a deemed price of $0.70 per share. Stornoway and Shear now hold 41.86% and 58.14% interests, respectively, in the Churchill Diamond Project.
The Churchill Diamond Project is comprised of mineral rights to more than 2 million acres located near the communities of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. Work is presently focused on continued exploration of new promising indicator mineral trains and geophysical anomalies as well as the evaluation of four significantly diamond bearing, vertically emplaced kimberlite dykes up to 4 m in width that have returned sampling grades up to 2.04 carats per tonne. A 400 tonne minibulk sample collected from a series of surface pits at the Kahuna dyke this past spring is now being processed for commercial sized diamonds (greater than 0.85 mm on a square mesh sieve). The 2007 field program is being operated by Shear and is under the supervision of Jennifer Burgess, P. Geol., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
Stornoway Diamond Corporation
Stornoway Diamond Corporation is one of Canada's leading diamond exploration and development companies, involved in the discovery of over 150 kimberlites in six Canadian diamond districts. The Company benefits from a diversified diamond property portfolio, a strong financial platform and a management team with experience in each segment of the diamond "pipeline" from exploration to marketing.
On behalf of the Board
STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORPORATION
/s/ "Eira Thomas"
Eira Thomas
CEO