http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/business/story.html?id=256bc539-39a8-4a52-a22a-3c9fbaa48e2a

Shear Mineral stock sparkles

Large diamond discovery rings true with investors

The Edmonton Journal

Published: 1:52 am, November 15, 2007

EDMONTON - Shear Minerals Ltd. shares jumped more than 21 per cent Wednesday after the Edmonton company said it had recovered a 5.43 carat diamond from the Churchill Diamond Project in Nunavut.

The diamond is one of eight broken fragments of a mother stone estimated to have been as big as 14 carats, CEO Pamela Strand said.

The company will try to reconstruct the diamond from the other fragments, the largest of which is 2.05 carats, to determine its original size and the cause of the break, she said.

"It's very exciting news. We knew we would have to find a big diamond to get the market interested and we've done that."

"It proves the potential for the Kahuna kimberlite dyke to host coarser diamonds, which will be an important driver of overall diamond value."

Strand said the big stone is clear and white, which is a good sign. It also contains some inclusions, or flaws, which likely helped cause the mother stone to break.

She said the results from the second phase of a 400-tonne bulk sample taken in March and April have the potential to move the Churchill program forward to an advanced exploration program, which no other current Canadian project has reached.

Results from the remaining 270-tonnes are expected in a few weeks.

Shear released a sample grade of 0.88 carats per tonne for Kahuna in September, based on an initial 106-tonne sample.

Other results, including microdiamond analyses from drilling and prospecting discoveries, will be released when available, Strand said.

The two-million acre Churchill Diamond Project near Rankin Inlet is owned 58.14 per cent by Shear and 41.86 per cent by Stornoway Diamond Corp.

The partners have discovered more than 50 kimberlites on the Churchill and Churchill West projects, including four kimberlite dykes that host significant diamonds.

Shares (SRM: TSXV) went as high as 73 cents before closing at 67 cents, up 19.6 per cent on the day.

© The Edmonton Journal 2007