Will the big Kahuna pay off?

Shear Minerals Ltd. and Stornoway Diamond Corp., the two biggest partners in the Churchill diamond exploration project near Rankin Inlet, announced last week that they’ve made significant diamond recoveries at a kimberlite dike they’ve called “Kahuna.”

A small, 57.6 drill core sample taken from two holes at Kahuna turned out to contain 15 macrodiamonds and 327 microdiamonds.

Only an hour after the Toronto Stock Exchange opened for trading Dec. 5, Shear’s stock price rose 33 per cent.

Shear has a 51 per cent interest in the Churchill project while Stornoway holds 35 per cent. Mining giant BHP Billiton holds 14 per cent.

Shear has collected a 20-tonne sample from Kahuna and three other kimberlite pipes in the area. Test results from that sample should be available in the new year.

Shear is also looking at doing more intensive work next year to find out if Kahuna and another promising kimberlite called “Notch” has economic potential.