Trading Symbol: TSX Venture: SNO
Shares Issued: 36,998,449
VANCOUVER, March 3 /CNW/ - Snowfield Development Corp. ("Snowfield") is pleased to announce that it is commencing with operations to bulk sample the Mud Lake kimberlite body. Recent drilling on the project has outlined two zones where the overburden appears shallow enough to facilitate the extraction of a suitable kimberlite sample. The first, preferred location is adjacent to a granite scarp where kimberlite was intersected in two boreholes (Snow-9-05 and Snow-12-05) at vertical depths of 12.9 and 13.7 meters. The second location is under Mud Lake itself, where unaltered kimberlite was intersected at a depth of 14 meters, directly beneath lake sediments. Under Mud Lake the kimberlite body appears to be flat lying. A number of possible geological cross-sections illustrating this will be posted on Snowfield's website - www.snowfield.com. All drill locations and recent results can also be viewed on the Snowfield's website.
Drilling is continuing along the granite scarp to establish the possible presence of kimberlite at shallower depths. To the south, on Mud Lake itself, drilling is also proceeding.
Since receiving its land use permit, Snowfield has completed, during the 2004/2005 exploration season, 17 holes at Mud Lake. In total Snowfield has drilled 28 holes on the Mud Lake kimberlite on its Ticho Project.
Snowfield is taking this opportunity to explain its decision to proceed with a bulk sample as opposed to undertaking a program of caustic fusion of a small sample of drill core kimberlite to recover microdiamonds at Mud Lake. It is submitted that one of the most important aspects of mining diamonds is to establish the value of the product (quantity, quality and size of diamonds) recovered. It is therefore of paramount importance to establish: are diamonds present and if so how many (the grade) and what is the dollar ($) value of these stones. Many kimberlites currently being mined are economic purely because of the presence of large, high-grade stones. The existence of large stones can effectively only be established by bulk sampling. Specifically, for these reasons and the additional fact that due to the property's close proximity to Yellowknife and the near surface orientation of the kimberlite, Snowfield can process a large sample for a reasonable cost.
The process of bulk sampling kimberlites, where possible, is an accepted and normal exploration procedure throughout the world. Snowfield is of the opinion that by not acquiring a large enough test sample from a kimberlite, such as in the caustic fusion of a small sample of drill core, critical exploration decisions could be made on inadequate and misleading information. A recent discovery in Ontario clearly illustrates this point. The kimberlite indicator mineral chemistry from that particular Ontario kimberlite pipe was mediocre; the microdiamond count was extremely low, yet after taking a bulk sample this particular kimberlite has yielded diamonds with a carat value in excess of $300 per carat.
Following the drilling at Mud Lake, drilling operations will move to test the geochemical/geophysical targets identified by Snowfield at Aspen, Pond, Sipper and Half Moon lakes. These four target areas are located between approximately 750 metres and 1.5 kilometers northeast of Mud Lake. (See news in Stock-watch dated June 8, 2004.)
Snowfield has retained Aurora Geosciences Ltd. to provide consulting services and independent project overview. Aurora Geosciences Ltd. will provide the services of Gary Vivian, P.Geol., and Jim Robinson, P.Geol., as qualified persons under National Instrument 43-101.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
"Robert T. Paterson"
Robert T. Paterson,
President and Director
SNOWFIELD DEVELOPMENT CORP.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents hereof.
/For further information: Snowfield Development Corp., 100 - 1009 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver, B.C., V6Z 2V9, Tel: (604) 681-5720, Fax: (604) 681-6937, Toll Free: 1-800-859-6463, communications(at)snowfield.com, www.snowfield.com/
