VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - Jan. 16, 2007) - True North Gems (TSX VENTURE:TGX) is pleased to announce that it has completed the sorting of rough ruby and pink sapphire material recovered from the 2006 Aappaluttoq bulk sample on the Company's 110 km2 property located near the village of Fiskenaesset, on the west coast of Greenland.
The ruby and pink sapphire material processed was recovered from a 30 tonne bulk sample of typical mineralized exposure, representative of direct extensions in contiguous mineralization, for 140 meters of adjacent strike. The Aappaluttoq occurrence is one of five (5) significant ruby showings that occur along a trend with a combined strike length of 2.6 kilometres (see press release August 2, 2006) referred to as the "Aappaluttoq Line" and is one of twenty-nine (29) ruby and pink sapphire occurrences identified to date from True North's Greenland property.
Processing in the field produced 650 kilograms of concentrate which has now been sorted to completion using the facilities of True North's Vancouver laboratory and through computerized optic sorting in Hamburg, Germany.
Results from Aappaluttoq
---------------------------------------------------------
Total Weight
Material (grams) grams/Tonne carats/Tonne
---------------------------------------------------------
Gem 58,108 1,937 9,685
---------------------------------------------------------
Near-Gem 76,884 2,563 12,815
---------------------------------------------------------
Total 134,992 4,500 22,500
---------------------------------------------------------
True North's management considers these results significant and indicative of the high grade ruby concentrations described in the field. Valuation of the 2006 Aappaluttoq bulk sample will be pending further processing and polishing of the rough material.
The conversion from grams and carats of rough material to carats polished is dependent upon several variables. The majority but not all of rough gem material is considered cuttable, and based on manufacturing experiments conducted by True North Gems, cutting yields can range from 5% to 30% depending on polishing techniques and required results.
Additional information on Greenland rubies, technical reports on ruby exploration and other public documents are available at www.sedar.com or, at the company's website, www.truenorthgems.com.
The planning and execution of the ruby exploration and quality control programs at the 2006 Greenland ruby project are under the supervision of William Rohtert, True North Gems. Mr. Rohtert is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
True North Gems Inc. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange and is engaged in the exploration and development of North American coloured gemstone prospects. The Company is a pioneer in coloured gemstone exploration and owns 100% interest in the Yukon-based Tsa da Glisza emerald property and the Baffin sapphire property located on Baffin Island and the rights to earn 100% interest in the Fiskenaesset ruby and pink sapphire property in Greenland.
The Company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
True North Gems Inc.
Andrew Lee Smith
Chairman and CEO
(604) 687-8055 or 1-800-399-8055
True North Gems Inc.
Ken Shortt
Investor Relations
(604) 687-8055 or 1-800-399-8055
Email: ken@truenorthgems.com
Website: www.truenorthgems.com
