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Snowfield Development Corp. (SNO TSX-V) ("Snowfield") is pleased to announce that it has accepted an offer from De Beers Canada Exploration ("De Beers") to process a 500 tonne bulk sample from the Mud Lake kimberlite located on Snowfield's Ticho Project, near Drybones Bay, Great Slave Lake, approximately 50 km south of Yellowknife, N.W.T. The bulk sample will be extracted and transported to Grand Prairie, Alta. by Snowfield and processed by De Beers at their Grand Prairie dense media separation (DMS) facility.
Preliminary crushing of the 500 tonne sample will be carried out in Yellowknife. Following this the sample will be transported to Grand Prairie in 2 tonne "packer" type ore bags. The proposed sample processing sequence will be as follows:
1. Sample will be scrubbed and passed over a 1.6 mm square aperture prep screen.
2. Oversize will be crushed to minus 10 mm; all processes are designed to minimize the risk of diamond breakage. The kimberlitic material is then mixed with water and ferrosilicon. This process increases the density of the water used to process the kimberlite. This mixture is then fed to the cyclone.
3. A DMS concentrate will be produced using a 200 mm cyclone, this device essentially consists of a high-pressure centrifuge. It facilitates the separation of lighter and denser material. The denser material including diamonds and kimberlite indicator minerals (such as pyropes and chromites) settle to the bottom of the unit and pass through an opening in the bottom of the cyclone. The DMS yield is expected to be in the vicinity of 1% of the original sample.
4. The option exists to ship the concentrate to the De Beers Group Exploration Macro-Diamond Laboratory (GEMDL) in Johannesburg for diamond recovery or to have this procedure carried out at a commercial facility in Canada.
Industry standard chain of custody procedures will be adhered to. Snowfield intends to engage a security firm to monitor the various stages of the operation. Snowfield will also engage the services of an independent "qualified person" to monitor the entire processing procedure.
De Beers has agreed to cover the cost of the processing of the sample at their DMS plant in Grand Prairie, Snowfield will be responsible for the cost of the extraction and transportation of the sample to Grand Prairie.
This offer from De Beers comes without any obligations from Snowfield, such as the right of first refusal on any possible future diamond production or any ownership interest in the Mud Lake claim block or any equity interest in Snowfield's common stock.
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 as qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Robert T. Paterson"
President
SNOWFIELD DEVELOPMENT CORP.
THE CANADIAN VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENTS HEREOF.