Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - December 6, 2017) - Arctic Star Exploration Corp. (TSXV: ADD) (FSE: 82A1) (WKN: A2DFY5) (the "Company" or "Arctic Star") is pleased to announce that it has appointed Director Roy Spencer to the newly created position of Country Manager for Finland. Mr. Spencer will be managing the Company's exploration activity on its newly acquired Timantti Diamond Project ("the Project") that lies within the highly prospective Karelian Craton. Roy's extensive background working within the Karelian Craton includes leading the discovery of the Grib diamond mine that generated revenue of $340 million USD in 2016, and is the 8th largest diamond mine in the world.
Mr. Spencer brings over 40 years of diamond exploration and discovery success to Arctic Star. Roy is a member of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) and a Fellow of the AusIMM. Roy joined De Beers in 1966 and has been involved with exploration and deposit evaluation for gemstones and other commodities throughout his career. Roy's tertiary education was at the University of Natal and Rhodes University in South Africa. As Technical Director of Peregrine Diamonds, he discovered the first kimberlites on the Pilbara craton in Western Australia in 1989, and as Leader of the Owners Team for Archangel Diamond Corporation he was largely responsible for the discovery of the world class Grib kimberlite in far northern Russia in February 1996. In 1998, Roy created and raised the seed finance for Ilmari Exploration Oy to explore for gold, base metals and diamonds on the Karelian Craton in Finland. Ilmari went public in 2000, and discovered the Lentiira kimberlite cluster in central Finland in 2003.
In 2006, as CEO of London-based diamond explorer European Diamonds, Roy led the Owners Team which brought the Liqhobong kimberlite in Lesotho into commercial production on time and under budget. In mid-2007, Roy left European Diamonds, a company which had evolved into a successful mid-tier diamond producer and marketer after having raised £23 million over a 6-year period. Since that time Roy has continued in gemstone exploration and deposit evaluation in Africa, Finland and western Russia for a variety of junior and senior mining companies.
Mr. Spencer stated, "Having worked extensively in the Karelian Craton throughout my career, I am excited to begin our exploration program at the highly-advanced Timantti project, where we have begun ground geophysics followed by drilling."
ABOUT ARCTIC STAR: The Company owns 100% of the recently acquired Timantti Diamond Project including a 243 Ha Exploration Permit and a 95,700 Ha Exploration Reservation near the township of Kuusamo, in Finland. The Project is located approximately 450km NW of the operating Grib Diamond Mine in Russia. Arctic is commencing its exploration in Finland on the Timantti Project, where two diamondiferous kimberlites may represent the first finds in a large kimberlite field. The Company also controls diamond exploration properties in Nunavut (Stein), the NWT (Diagras and Redemption) and a rare metals project in BC (Cap). Arctic Star has a highly experienced diamond exploration team previously responsible for numerous world class diamond discoveries.
