De Beers Canada has acquired all of the outstanding securities of Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. at a purchase price of C$0.24 per share, for a total cash consideration of C$107 million (US$82 million). The acquisition includes the high quality Chidliak diamond resource located in Canada’s Nunavut Territory and other properties elsewhere in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
The transaction, which was announced in July this year, was approved by Peregrine’s security holders in August, and by the Supreme Court of British Columbia in September. The common shares of Peregrine were delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange at the end of trading on September 14th.
Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers, said: “We are very pleased to complete the addition of the Chidliak resource to De Beers Group’s worldleading diamond resource portfolio, and to extend our presence in Canada. We look forward to developing the resource further and are excited about its potential for contributing to our future diamond production.”
Kim Truter, CEO, De Beers Canada, said: “Having built and operated three diamond mines in Arctic-like conditions in the past 15 years, our expertise in bringing projects of this nature to fruition is unparalleled. We look forward to accelerating our understanding of this property and how we can move it forward.