North Arrow Minerals Inc. announced that the board of directors of the company has approved a 2014 exploration program and budget of $3.7 million to complete a bulk sampling program at the Qilalugaq Diamond Project located near the hamlet of Repulse Bay, Nunavut. The purpose of the program is to recover a diamond parcel of approximately 500 carats for the purpose of determining an initial value estimate for the diamonds in the Q1-4 kimberlite. The 2014 program will include the collection of approximately 1,500 tones from the 12.5 hectare Q1-4 kimberlite, located just seven kilometers from tidewater on the Arctic Ocean and nine kilometers from Repulse Bay.

Sample collection will commence in July and the sample will be shipped south in late August using the annual sealift to Repulse Bay. The sample will be collected using a small excavator from an area of Q1-4 where there is limited (<1m) overburden cover. In 2007, Stornoway collected (from hand dug pits) a 20.3 tone sample from this same area and recovered 6.1 carats of diamonds for a sample grade of 30 cpht.

The 2014 sample will be processed for the recovery of commercial sized (+0.85 mm) diamonds and the resulting diamond parcel will be used to better determine diamond grade, size distribution, diamond parcel value and to establish whether or not fancy yellow diamonds persist into the larger diamond sizes.