Stornoway CEO Eira Thomas inspects a drill core from the AV9 kimberlite pipe, discovered late in the 2007 exploration season on the Aviat Project, Melville Peninsula, Nunavut.

The Aviat Project in eastern Nunavut will continue to be a top priority for Stornoway Diamonds, fuelling a $3.05-million joint venture and two major acquisitions.

Releasing its spring highlights, the company said the discovery of 11 significantly diamondiferous kimberlites on the 197,000-hectare site is critical to its plans for 2008.

“Results from 2007 confirmed the potential for a large tonnage, high-grade diamond resource at Aviat and the project will continue to be a top priority for the company in 2008,” said Stornoway CEO Eira Thomas.

Earlier this year, the company announced the approval of a $3.05-million joint venture with BHP Billiton Diamonds at Aviat, which included collection of a larger tonnage kimberlite sample from the AV267 sheet, of which the initial 200-tonne sample was to be solely funded by BHP.

Other 2008 highlights include:
• acquisition of BHP's 14.4 per cent interest in the project, bringing Stornoway's project interest to 90 per cent (Hunter Exploration Group holds a 10 per cent interest, carried to production);
• acquisition of Hunter's right to market 10 per cent of the diamonds (previously purchased by BHP), bringing Stornoway's diamond marketing rights to 100 per cent; and
• mobilization of crews for the 2008 exploration program, which will include ground geophysics and drilling at the recently discovered AV9 kimberlite pipe.

“Consolidation of the Aviat project interest allows Stornoway to move forward expeditiously to complete a high-level conceptual resource study on the AV267 kimberlite complex and further drill-test the diamondiferous AV9 kimberlite pipe,” Thomas said. “It is possible that AV9 could represent an important feeder zone related to the AV267 sheet.”