08:00 Tue 03 Jul 2018
Shefa Yamim (A.T.M.) - Discovery of High Grade Spinel
B"H
("Shefa Yamim" or the "Company")
Shefa Yamim finds high grade Spinel
Spinel, Ilmenite, and Garnet added to
Shefa Yamim (LSE: SEFA), a precious stone exploration company in
Highlights from Bulk Sampling Campaign at the
· Increase in total gemstone minerals to date by 99.5% to 9,778.15 cts
· Spinel becomes the 9th gemstone to be added to the TMA suite following a recovery of 3,952.91cts
· Cutting and polishing confirms gemstone quality of garnets, a total of 2,176.77 cts were recovered
· DMCH Suite renamed to 'Gem Box' to reflect the addition of the new gemstone minerals
· Garnets re-assigned to the 'Gem Box' suite from the original HIM suite of heavy minerals made up of garnet, ilmenite, zircon and rutile ("HIM")
· Ilmenite greater than or equal to 1mm, was also re-assigned to the 'Gem Box' suite from the HIM suite as it is found to be of gemstone quality, a total of 768.86 cts were recovered
· The revised TMA, dominated by the Gem Box suite, is comprised mainly of minerals that are ≤0.65 cts/stn (85%) with 15% being ≥0.65cts. The largest gems recovered were: Carmel sapphire™ 33.3ct, garnet 13.6ct, sapphire 5.7ct, spinel 6.2ct, hibonite 2.8ct and ruby 1.7ct
· The overall TMA grade was some 153 cpht (at a bottom screen size of 1 mm), with the grade dominated by 4 Gem Box suite minerals: spinel (69.91 cpht); Carmel sapphire™ (39.36 cpht); garnet (34.09 cpht) and ilmenite (12.06 cpht).
Commenting on the results
"This is an excellent start to our campaign as we move towards trial mining at the
"Shefa Yamim's gem-box contains very rare gemstones which will form the basis of jewellery which, once manufactured, will be marketed, due to their provenance, as 'gemstones from the Holy Land'. We look forward to updating the market in due course."
RECOVERED GRADES & PRELIMINARY SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF THE TMA SUITE IN ZONE 1, KISHON MID REACH ALLUVIAL PLACER
· With the "new" gem minerals added to the original "DMCH" suite, viz., garnet, ilmenite and spinel, this higher value collection has been renamed the "
· In the revised TMA, only 2 minerals thus fall into the "HIM" industrial category (0.5%): zircon (which may also be a gem at larger sizes) and rutile (Table 1).
· The revised TMA, dominated by the Gem Box suite, is comprised mainly of minerals that are ≤0.65 cts/stn (85%) with 15% being ≥0.65cts. The largest gems recovered were Carmel sapphire™ 33.3ct, garnet 13.6ct, sapphire 5.7ct, spinel 6.2ct, hibonite 2.8ct and ruby 1.7ct.
· As
· The spatial positioning of the bulk samples from south to north along much of the length of Zone 1, as well as their layout approx. perpendicular to palaeo-flow direction of the ancient Kishon in places, will allow for better geostatistical analyses of the grade and size distribution of the Gem Box and HIM industrial minerals in Zone 1 that will be presented at a later stage.
TARGET MINERAL ASSEMBLAGE SUITE & A REVISION OF THE GEM - INDUSTRIAL MINERALS COMPRISING THE TMA IN ZONE 1 OF THE KISHON MID REACH ALLUVIAL PLACER
The combined gem and industrial mineral component of the Kishon Mid Reach alluvial placer is referred to as the Target Mineral Assemblage. The "DMCH" gem suite made up of Diamond (extremely rare and mostly small, <1 mm stones; only one record from the Kishon Mid Reach alluvial placer from borehole SY-18), Moissanite (SiC, a rare mineral globally of which the Shefa Yamim prospects host the most abundant and the largest size natural moissanite in the world), Corundum gem varieties namely, Carmel sapphire™ (to date, a sapphire type known only from Mt Carmel and the
However, with the last of the 14 bulk samples processed to completion by late
· The garnet population, which is not of the more common metamorphic origin but was sourced from deeper levels by the Cretaceous Mt Carmel basic to ultra-basic volcanic complexes, is of a gemstone and not an industrial quality. These garnets, which also form an integral part of the so-called Kimberlitic Indicator Minerals (KIMs) suite, were tested further by cutting and polishing several stones, the results of which confirmed their gem quality. Therefore, the Kishon alluvial placer garnets are no longer considered part of the original HIM suite and have been re-assigned to
· The ilmenite, which is also a KIMs mineral, but is generally finer-grained than the garnet, was likewise studied and found to be predominantly of a gemstone and not of an industrial quality. Therefore, the ilmenite population in the Kishon Mid Reach Placer has also been re-assigned to the Gem Box suite from the original HIM suite.
· Significantly, and in addition to the original TMA suite (described above) that is the focus of the Shefa Yamim Recovery at the Akko facility, the Recovery personnel also pick spinel and other remaining KIMs (e.g. clinopyroxe, chromium diopsides, etc) as a matter of routine. Significantly the Zone 1 placer gravels yielded a considerable quantity of spinel, most of which was gem quality and relatively coarse-grained (3,952.91 cts). Thus spinel has been added as an additional mineral to the original TMA suite.
· The TMA now comprises of 9 gemstones (in order of abundance): spinel, Carmel sapphire™, garnet, ilmenite, sapphire, hibonite, moissanite, ruby, diamond (not recovered in the Zone 1 bulk sample campaign and only known from borehole SY-18 in Zone 2); and 2 industrial minerals: zircon and rutile.
Table 1: Summary of the carats (cts), grades (cpht; at bottom screen size of 1 mm) and two-fold size split for the revised TMA suite from the Zone 1 bulk sampling campaign which now comprises the Gem Box and the HIM suites.
KISHON MID REACH ALLUVIAL PLACER: INITIAL ZONE 1 BULK SAMPLE RESULTS (carats, cts; grade, cpht; 2-fold sizes) FOR THE TARGET MINERAL ASSEMBLAGE (TMA) SUITE; Version 1, |
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"GEM BOX" SUITE |
"HIM" INDUSTRIAL SUITE |
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TOTAL TMA SUITE |
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Bulk Sample No. |
Bulk Sample Tonnes Wet (t) |
Spinel (cts) |
Carmel SapphireTM (cts) |
Garnet (cts) |
Ilmenite (cts) |
Sapphire (cts) |
Hibonite (cts) |
Moissanite (cts) |
Ruby (cts) |
Bulk Sample No. |
Zircon (cts) |
Rutile (cts) |
Bulk Sample No. |
TMA SUITE All Minerals (cts) |
TMA SUITE All Grades (cpht) |
BS-1124 |
400.00 |
530.62 |
991.43 |
349.16 |
58.57 |
24.27 |
0.00 |
3.54 |
0.89 |
BS-1124 |
2.61 |
1.12 |
BS-1124 |
1,962.21 |
490.55 |
BS-1125 |
600.00 |
580.31 |
730.17 |
438.57 |
108.83 |
40.45 |
5.34 |
1.32 |
0.86 |
BS-1125 |
3.53 |
1.70 |
BS-1125 |
1,911.08 |
318.51 |
BS-1174 |
533.00 |
616.19 |
374.31 |
335.62 |
102.43 |
41.13 |
0.00 |
0.84 |
0.48 |
BS-1174 |
5.62 |
1.80 |
BS-1174 |
1,478.42 |
277.38 |
BS-1175 |
539.00 |
177.19 |
165.39 |
87.90 |
16.05 |
4.78 |
5.85 |
0.30 |
2.15 |
BS-1175 |
0.38 |
0.34 |
BS-1175 |
460.31 |
85.40 |
BS-1176 |
508.78 |
25.59 |
28.28 |
14.80 |
1.39 |
0.33 |
0.05 |
0.17 |
0.01 |
BS-1176 |
0.00 |
0.15 |
BS-1176 |
70.76 |
13.91 |
BS-1208 |
123.46 |
11.47 |
3.60 |
3.53 |
1.08 |
1.58 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
BS-1208 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
BS-1208 |
21.26 |
17.22 |
BS-1210 |
551.00 |
174.99 |
24.81 |
110.72 |
13.46 |
6.02 |
0.05 |
0.05 |
0.09 |
BS-1210 |
1.11 |
0.32 |
BS-1210 |
331.62 |
60.18 |
BS-1211 |
518.00 |
349.66 |
37.87 |
125.75 |
47.57 |
26.54 |
0.00 |
0.09 |
0.04 |
BS-1211 |
2.38 |
0.50 |
BS-1211 |
590.39 |
113.98 |
BS-1212 |
535.10 |
316.69 |
42.39 |
35.81 |
15.45 |
14.69 |
0.86 |
0.06 |
0.03 |
BS-1212 |
0.73 |
0.15 |
BS-1212 |
426.86 |
79.77 |
BS-1213 |
347.28 |
205.07 |
21.01 |
182.37 |
101.04 |
23.98 |
0.28 |
0.07 |
0.02 |
BS-1213 |
2.70 |
0.60 |
BS-1213 |
537.14 |
154.67 |
BS-1214 |
529.74 |
196.68 |
42.34 |
109.73 |
42.14 |
14.85 |
4.89 |
0.11 |
0.59 |
BS-1214 |
2.68 |
0.33 |
BS-1214 |
414.34 |
78.22 |
BS-1226 |
398.96 |
47.24 |
7.95 |
113.27 |
57.64 |
12.98 |
0.07 |
0.07 |
0.00 |
BS-1226 |
1.14 |
0.30 |
BS-1226 |
240.66 |
60.32 |
BS-1227 |
551.20 |
711.50 |
38.23 |
185.04 |
145.63 |
55.26 |
3.50 |
0.04 |
0.15 |
BS-1227 |
12.57 |
0.85 |
BS-1227 |
1,152.77 |
209.14 |
BS-1228 |
248.90 |
9.72 |
5.06 |
84.50 |
58.58 |
20.48 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
0.00 |
BS-1228 |
1.85 |
0.16 |
BS-1228 |
180.35 |
72.46 |
TOTAL / AVG |
6,384.42 |
3,952.91 |
2,512.84 |
2,176.77 |
769.86 |
287.34 |
20.89 |
6.65 |
5.30 |
TOTAL / AVG |
37.29 |
8.31 |
TOTAL / AVG |
9,778.15 |
153.16 |
AVG GRADE (cpht) |
|
61.91 |
39.36 |
34.09 |
12.06 |
4.50 |
0.33 |
0.10 |
0.08 |
AVG GRADE (cpht) |
0.58 |
0.13 |
|
|
|
OVERALL "GEM BOX" SUITE GRADE (cpht) |
9,732.55 |
152.44 |
OVERALL "HIM" SUITE GRADE (cpht) |
45.60 |
0.71 |
OVERALL TMA SUITE GRADE (cpht) |
|
153.16 |
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OVERALL "GEM BOX" SUITE (≤ 0.65 cts) |
|
8,289.16 |
84.77% |
OVERALL "HIM" SUITE (≤ 0.65 cts) |
43.25 |
0.44% |
OVERALL TMA SUITE (≤ 0.65 cts) |
8,332.40 |
85.22% |
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OVERALL "GEM BOX" SUITE (≥ 0.65 cts) |
|
1,443.31 |
14.76% |
OVERALL "HIM" SUITE (≥ 0.65 cts) |
2.33 |
0.02% |
OVERALL TMA SUITE (≥ 0.65 cts) |
1,445.64 |
14.78% |
Information on historical bulk samples, as well as images and maps can be found on our website:
https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/ac660adf/files/uploaded/SY_CPR_10_2017.pdf
- Ends -
Competent Person:
This release has been approved by Dr. J.D. Ward, Consulting Geologist at
Enquiries
Shefa Yamim (A.T. M.) Ltd |
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+44 20 7618 9100 |
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+44 20 3005 5000 |
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+44 20 7796 4648 |
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Harry Chathli, |
+44 20 7618 9100 |
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