Releasing its performance report for the three months ended June 30, 2016, Stornoway Diamond Corporation said that progress at the Renard Diamond Project continues in line with the planned schedule and budget, and ore processing commenced as planned on July 15 this year.

During the quarter, mining in the Renard 2-3 and Renard 65 open pits stood at 9,454,038 tonnes, or 102% of plan, with 859,498 tonnes of ore stockpiled.  Underground mine development stood at 1,842 meters, or 85% of plan. The Company said that the process plant including the crusher, water treatment facility and process kimberlite load-out were fully commissioned. 

It added that incurred costs and commitments at the quarter-end totalled $682.0 million, or 88% of budget and that construction progress stood at 97.4% compared to the re-baselined plan of 95.2% at the end of the quarter.

For the three months peiod, the Corporation reported a net income of $5.8 million, mainly on account of derivative gains resulting from changes to fair value and foreign exchange gains and losses during each period.

Matt Manson, President and CEO, commented: “Construction activities at Renard have now been largely completed and the ramp up of ore processing in the diamond plant has commenced. We intend to schedule our first diamond sale based on the progress of the production ramp-up that is achieved over the next few months.”

Mining in the Renard 2-3 and Renard 65 open pits stood at 9,454,038 tonnes, or 102% of plan, with 859,498 tonnes of ore stockpiled.  Underground mine development stood at 1,842 meters, or 85% of plan.

During the quarter, the process plant including the crusher, water treatment facility and process kimberlite load-out were fully commissioned.  At quarter-end, remaining project construction was focussed on completion of the processed kimberlite containment facility and development of the underground mine’s fresh air raise.

For the three months ended June 30, 2016, the Corporation reported a net income of $5.8 million or $0.01 per share and $Nil per share fully diluted.

Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments stood at $137.4 million. Prior to their expiry on Friday, July 8, 2016, 91,912,732 common share purchase warrants, representing 97.47% of the warrants issued on July 8, 2014, were exercised at a price of $0.90 per share for total proceeds to the Corporation of $82.7 million. This warrant exercise included 11.9 million warrants ($10.8 million in proceeds) exercised prior to June 30, 2016. Excess financing capacity available to complete the project, comprising cash, receivables, expected mine tax credits, and available credit facilities, is now forecasted to be $197 million, assuming the satisfaction of all covenants and conditions precedent relating to future funding commitments and a CAD$:US$ conversion rate of $1.25.

Matt Manson, President and CEO, commented: “Construction activities at Renard have now been largely completed and the ramp up of ore processing in the diamond plant has commenced. All of this has been achieved well within schedule and budget. At the project site, the hand-over from construction to operating staff has been achieved smoothly, and our mining activities are progressing satisfactorily, with no recurrence of the localised water inflow issue that hampered the progress of the underground mine ramp at the start of the year. We intend to schedule our first diamond sale based on the progress of the production ramp-up that is achieved over the next few months.”