Diamond hunt continues.

A Toronto-based exploration company has extracted an 800-tonne mini-bulk sample from its 100-per-cent owned diamond property in northeastern Ontario.

Sudbury Contact Mines Ltd. was part of a two-month large-diametre drill program that began in October on its most promising diamond bearing five-hectare kimberlite (95-2) on the Ontario portion of its Timiskaming Diamond Project.

The sample was extracted from six holes across the kimberlite, and with drill results of its recent drill program the company is preparing a 3-D model of the pipe.

Sudbury Contact's Timiskaming Diamond Project straddles the provincial border in northeastern and northwestern Quebec encompassing 32,000 hectare (or 360 square miles) along Highway 11 between Cobalt and Kirkland Lake.

To date, four kimberlites have been discovered on the Ontario side of the project.

The company maintains the area's available infrastructure and trained mining workforce bodes well for a potential open pit mine, which is would require low capital expenses and low operating costs.

SGS Lakefield Research Ltd. has constructed a 10-tonne-per-hour pilot plant to process the material and Sudbury Contact expects to release sample grades and a diamond parcel valuation in the first quarter of 2004.