Sunrise Resources PLC Regulatory News (SRES)

26 Jan 2007 07:00

Sunrise Diamonds PLC26 January 2007 www.sunrisediamonds.com 26 January 2007 SUNRISE DIAMONDS PLANS MAJOR EXPLORATION PROGAMME TO BUILD ON 2006 SUCCESS • Company Completes Nordic Claims Review And Moves To Detailed Evaluation • Follow-Up Work Planned In Kaavi-Kuoplo Area To Generate Drill Targets • Fieldwork Now Complete At 14 Kuusamo Priority Targets And Results Awaited ___________________________________________________________________________ Sunrise Diamonds plc ("Sunrise Diamonds" or "the Company") is pleased to providethe following update to exploration activities at its Annual General Meetingtoday. Nordic Diamonds Joint Venture In August 2006, the Company announced an agreement giving it the right to earn a75% interest in projects held by Nordic Diamonds Inc. ("Nordic") in theKuopio-Kaavi district of south central Finland where previous exploration hasidentified 16 kimberlites on the Nordic claims. Sunrise Diamonds has now competed its initial review of the project data andcarried out sampling of archived drill core from six of the known kimberlitepipes. It has also contracted consultants Minerals Services in Canada tocomplete a detailed evaluation of the indicator mineral chemistry of thesepriority pipes using its proprietary Mantle MapperTM process. This is a powerfultool developed by leading kimberlite scientists for quantitative analysis of theabundance and composition of key indicator minerals in kimberlite. It allows areliable evaluation of the diamond potential of the host body. This method hasbeen applied in numerous projects worldwide and has proved highly successful inprioritising kimberlites for further costly bulk sampling programmes. Encouragement for further bulk sampling is provided by earlier Nordic drillingon two of the previously discovered pipes (Pipes 12 and 21), carried out tore-evaluate diamond content and kimberlite geology. Nordic drill core samplesfrom Pipe 21 (reported area approximately 1.3 hectares) returned highmicro-diamond counts of up to 1.84 micro-diamonds/kg of kimberlite. Thissupports the results of a 16.6 tonne mini-bulk sample previously taken by AshtonMining in 1995, which returned a reported grade of 26.7 carats per hundredtonnes including a stone of 1.13 carats. Approximately 79% of the micro-diamondsrecovered by Nordic were reported to be white and 91% transparent. Ongoing Fieldwork In the current exploration phase initiated in 2006, 19 priority targets for newkimberlite discoveries were selected throughout Finland. These targets includehigh interest magnetic anomalies and geochemical anomalies generated from theBHP Billiton database controlled by the Company. Field work has been carried out at four targets in the Kaavi-Kuopio area withexcellent results having already been announced for Targets 295 (on Nordic JVclaims) and Targets 298 (100% owned) where micro-diamonds have been recoveredfrom till samples and from kimberlite boulders in surface gravels. Follow-upwork is already being planned to generate drill targets on these exciting areas. In the Kuusamo area field-work has now been completed at 14 priority targets,and samples are currently being processed for kimberlite indicator minerals (the19th target was not accessible during this programme). Results are awaited. At the AGM today Mr Cheetham will tell shareholders "Over the past year we haveestablished Sunrise Diamonds as the leading diamond explorer in Finland havingachieved excellent results over a wide range of projects from grass roots toadvanced exploration. In 2007 we will build on this success with a majorexploration programme focusing on targets generated from our work last year. Ilook forward to another exciting year." Further Info: Patrick Cheetham, Sunrise Diamonds plc. Tel: +44 (0)1625-505947.Mob: +44 (0)7767-458751 John Greenhalgh/Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd. Tel: +44 ( 0)20-7628-5518 The information in this release has been compiled and reviewed by Mr. PatrickCheetham (MIMMM, MAusIMM) who is a qualified person for the purposes of the AIMGuidance Note for Mining Oil & Gas Companies issued on March 16, 2006. MrCheetham is a Member of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining and also amember of the Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange