News Bureau

 
 
January 18, 2019

Stornoway attains 1.32 mn carats production in 2018

Stornoway Diamond provides production and sales results at the Renard Diamond Mine for the 4Q ended December 31, 2018. According to the highlights, fourth quarter diamond production of 485,616 carats recovered from the processing of 605,960 tonnes of ore at an attributable grade of 80 carats per hundred tonnes. Grade and carat recoveries improved by 45% and 47% respectively compared to the third quarter, attributed to the mining of higher grade ore and an increase in tonnes processed.

Fourth quarter sales of 253,929 carats sold in two tenders for gross proceeds1 of $31 million2, at an average price of US$92 per carat that is $122 per carat2. Fourth quarter diamond sales represent diamonds mainly recovered during the third quarter.

FY2018 diamond production of 1.32 mn carats recovered from the processing of 2.33 mn tonnes of ore at an attributable grade of 57 cpht. FY2018 run-of-mine diamond sales of 1.04 mn carats sold in nine tenders for gross proceeds1 of $141 million, at an average price of US$105 per carat that fetch $136 per carat3.

Patrick Godin, President and CEO of Stornoway, stated “2018 was a challenging year, with the ramp-up of underground production impacted by delays in equipment deliveries, a competitive labour market and by the presence of more low-grade mineralization than anticipated on the northern margin of the Renard 2 ore body, where the initial underground production ore was sourced.

Our operating team overcame these challenges and underground operations achieved full design capacity at the end of August. Our third and fourth quarter production results have demonstrated significant improvements in grade and carat recoveries as mining progressed towards the high-grade center of the Renard 2 kimberlite.

We expect these results to continue into 2019, as we continue mining Renard 2 from the 290 meter level, and bring into production the higher-grade Renard 3 ore body from underground. We are pleased to provide FY2019 guidance that illustrates the robustness of the Renard Mine, with underground operations ramped-up and carat recoveries currently exceeding those predicted by our mineral resource model.

2019 will also see the development of the next underground mining horizon at Renard 2, as well as surface and underground exploration work to seek improvements to the current mine plan.”

 

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