Owner: Stornoway Diamond Corporation

The 100% owned Renard Diamond Project, Stornoway’s flagship asset, is located near the Otish Mountains in north-central Quebec and is well on track to becoming Quebec’s first diamond mine. The project benefits from a large and growing resource, good mining conditions, strong social acceptance, a modest environmental footprint, and the development of direct-to-mine road infrastructure. 

 

The Renard kimberlite pipes, and the nearby “Lynx Hibou” system of kimberlite dykes, were discovered starting in 2001 following five years of grass roots exploration over an area of more than 400,000 square kilometres of the eastern Archean Superior craton in northern Quebec.  Initial exploration was conducted under a joint venture between Ashton Mining of Canada Inc. and SOQUEM inc. Stornoway acquired Ashton in January 2007 and in April 2011 acquired the remaining 50% in the project held by DIAQUEM Inc. a subsidiary of SOQUEM.

 

The current project development schedule (as of the January 28, 2013 Optimization Study) assumes first road access to the project site by the fourth quarter of 2013 followed by a 24 month construction period. Plant commissioning is scheduled to begin in December 2015 with commercial production achieved by June 2016.

 

The January 28, 2013 press release that announced the Optimization Study incorporated certain design refinements undertaken since the release of the project’s Feasibility Study in November 2011, including the deferral of shaft access for the underground mine and a modified underground mining sequence and draw point design.  The Optimization Study also contains an updated financial model incorporating, amongst other things, the terms of the March 2012 Mecheshoo Agreement with the Cree Nation of Mistissini, the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), and the Cree Regional Authority, and the November 2012 Renard Mine Road financing agreement with the Government of Québec.