President and CEO Dr Rory Moore said the company had intersected kimberlite in all five holes to date, with a number of intercepts "better than anticipated" which would be accretive to kimberlite tonnage potential in an updated geological model.

"In spite of severe storms and extremely cold temperatures, our winter programme is proceeding smoothly," he said.

The winter exploration is funded with Kennady recently closing the second tranche of a private placement of shares at C$2.50 to raise $2.5 million (US$1.9 million), in connection with the friendly takeover by Mountain Province Diamonds (CN:MPVD) proposed in January.

Mountain Province has a 49% interest in the neighbouring Gahcho Kué diamond mine in a joint venture with De Beers Canada (51%).

Faraday's maiden 5.02 million carat inferred resource was announced in October and adds to the Kennady project's indicated Kelvin resource of 13.62 million carats.

Kennady and Mountain Province are both holding special shareholders meetings on April 9 to vote on the proposed plan of arrangement.

Kennady shares, which have ranged between C$2.45-$4.25 over the past year, closed up 3.05% to $3.04 capitalising it at $157.8 million.