Canadian diamond and mineral exploration company Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (Arctic Star) has announced the commencement of its diamond exploration program on its 100-percent owned Timantti Diamond Project in Finland. The project includes a 243 Ha Exploration Permit and a 95,700 Ha Exploration Reservation near the township of Kuusamo, in Finland, and is located approximately 450km NW of the operating Grib Diamond Mine in Russia. Arctic Star notes that the area of the project has excellent infrastructure and exploration activity can be conducted all year-round. The proposed exploration program includes ground geophysics to be conducted over the area of the Exploration Permit which contains the diamondiferous Black and White Wolf kimberlites (together the "Wolf kimberlites"), says Arctic Star. The ground-based, magnetic, gravity and electro-magnetic surveys are designed to help define the shape and size of the Wolf kimberlites, as well as to detect possible new kimberlite-like anomalies within the area for drill testing. The company reports that twenty backhoe till samples will be undertaken in the near vicinity of the Wolf kimberlites to identify potential drill targets based on diamond indicator mineral results. In addition, a drill program will be conducted consisting of approximately 8 drill holes (1,500m) including the two Wolf kimberlites. A 500kg drill core sample will be taken from each of the Wolf bodies for caustic fusion analysis. The company notes that any additional kimberlite-like targets identified from the ground geophysics will be drilled at this time where appropriate. Arctic Star's VP Exploration Buddy Doyle says, "The assay results demonstrate that the Wolf Kimberlites have significant micro-diamond counts comparable in number to those found in economic kimberlites. The current drill program is designed to significantly boost the size of the sample, at which stage the company should have an estimate on the size and the grade of the diamonds, and allow us to make a decision to proceed to bulk sampling." |