Second Kimberlite Discovered at Churchill

06/09/2003

Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM: TSXV), Northern Empire Minerals Ltd. (NEM:TSXV) and BHP Billiton today announced a second kimberlite has been discovered on the Churchill Diamond Project. Drill hole number CD002 was designed to test anomaly CK156, a circular magnetic low anomaly 150m by 150m located 6km north of CD001. The first two kimberlites have been named Thunder and Lightning ("Kadluk" and "Kraumalak" in Inuktituk).

"The first two targets drilled have resulted in separate kimberlite discoveries," said Pamela Strand, President and CEO of Shear. "Now that we know there are kimberlites at Churchill, we have added confidence that the source of the outstanding mineral chemistry we have observed is located on the property."

Said John Robins, President and CEO of Empire, "These discoveries clearly confirm our belief that Churchill will become one of Canada's leading diamond projects."

The current phase of drilling is designed to test a minimum of 15 high priority kimberlite targets of the 217 geophysical targets identified to date on the property. Drilling continues and additional results will be forthcoming. The Churchill Diamond Project totals more than 1.5 million acres and is located near the community of Rankin Inlet, Nunavut

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.

All programs are under the supervision of Dean Besserer, P. Geol., of APEX Geoscience Ltd., a qualified person under NI 43-101.

On behalf of the Board

SHEAR MINERALS LTD.
/s/ "Pamela Strand"
Pamela Strand
President

For further information, please contact the
Company at 780-435-0045 or 1-866-298-9695
www.shearminerals.com

On behalf of the Board

NORTHERN EMPIRE MINERALS LTD.
/s/ "John Robins"
John E. Robins, P. Geo.
President

For further information, please contact the
Company at 604-331-2267 or (888) 338-2200
www.northernempireminerals.com

 

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