8,319 carats recovered from a total of 30 bulk samples and 6,094 tons of palaeo gravels
Shefa Gems (LSE: SEFA), a company focused on advanced exploration and development of multi-gemstone projects in Northern Israel, is pleased to announce that it has completed the processing of bulk samples from the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 2 project at its fit-for-purpose sample processing facility at Akko in Northern Israel.
Highlights:
- 1,466 carats recovered from 2,254 tons of palaeo gravels from final five bulk samples.
- 8,319 carats recovered from a total of 30 bulk samples and 6,094 tons of palaeo gravels giving a raw sampling grade of 136.5 carats per hundred tons.
- The largest stones recovered were a 6.9 carat spinel, 5.72 carat sapphire, 5.26 carat Carmel SapphireTM and a 4.1mm of natural moissanite, the largest natural moissanite ever found.
Tali Shalem, Chief Executive Officer of Shefa Gems, said:
“I am pleased to report that processing work has resumed at our Akko facility following a nationwide lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and that our bulk sampling programme on Zone 2 of the Kishon Mid-Reach project has been completed. The results from this programme provide further confidence in the combined Zone 1 and 2 Inferred Resource. In parallel to completing this important bulk sampling programme, the company has been working hard on progressing the Mining License application, following the recent award of the Certificate of Discovery for Zones 1 and 2 of the Kishon Mid-Reach whilst evaluating a global multi-channel marketing strategy.”
A total of thirty bulk samples from the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 2 were taken from short trenches excavated approximately perpendicular to the palaeo-flow direction of the ancient Kishon River course preserved in low terraces flanking the modern river course. This is the last set of five bulk samples taken in June 2019 from the southernmost area of Zone 2 as part of a pattern to systematically investigate the heavy mineral content of the palaeo Kishon River basal placer gravels.
The final bulk sampling campaign (BS1252 – BS1256) recovered 1,466 carats of minerals from the ‘Gem Box’ suite from 2,254 tons of basal gravels giving a raw sampling grade of 65.01 carats per hundred tons. The dominant minerals in this samples consist of spinel (56%), garnet (26%), ilmenite (9%), Carmel SapphireTM (5%), sapphire (2%) and hibonite, natural moissanite and ruby at lower percentages. The largest gemstones recovered were a 6.9 carat spinel, 3.77 carat ilmenite, 2.36 carat garnet and a 2.15 carat Carmel SapphireTM.
A total of 8,319.19 carats were recovered from thirty bulk and mini bulk samples taken in Zone 2 weighing 6,094.53 tons, with individual sample grades ranging from 38 to 2,735 carats per hundred tons giving a raw sampling grade for the entire Zone 2 of 136.5 carats per hundred tons. The dominant minerals in the Zone 2 bulk samples consist of spinel (56%), garnet (20%), ilmenite (13%) sapphire (4.5%), Carmel SapphireTM (3.5%) and zircon (1%). Ruby, moissanite, hibonite and rutile were also recovered. The largest stones recovered in Zone 2 were a 6.9 carat spinel, 5.72 carat sapphire, 5.26 carat Carmel SapphireTM and 4.1mm of natural moissanite one of the largest natural moissanite crystals ever found.
The raw sampling grade of Zone 2 of 136.5 carats per hundred tons is consistent with that of Zone 1 of 152.4 carats per hundred tons illustrating both geological and mineralogical continuity between the two contiguous zones on the Kishon Mid-Reach and further support the Inferred Resource classification for the combined Zones 1 and 2.
Total Gem Carat in the Company’s inventory (Zone 1 + 2) to date:
Following the financial statements of the year 2019, published by the Company on 25 June 2020 (RNS 9695Q) and the Company’s gem inventory published was 15,573 carats – The updated gem inventory, after adding the last 5 bulk samples as stated in this RNS (1,466 Carat) is 17,039 carats.
