Mountain Province Diamonds, well-known for developing the world’s biggest new diamond mine, their 74k-acre Kennady Lake diamond project (or Gahcho Kué, developed in partnership with global sector juggernaut DeBeers), just 56 miles east of De Beers’ Snap Lake diamond mine up in the Canadian Northwest Territories, reported excellent progress on the permitting schedule today via a DeBeers disclosure which also noted that the final hearing should occur in the next four months on the now nearly-finished 24-month EIR (environmental impact review).
Excellent news for Mountain Province’s hot Canadian diamond property, as some of the final requirements fall away and the company accelerates development prep under their Advance Program. The JV partners have slated some $31.4M for initial CAPEX (approved June of this year) on construction and operating permit applications, detailed engineering and front-end engineering/design requirements, as well as long-lead hardware purchases, an updated feasibility study, and 2013 winter road procurements.
Everyone is gung-ho to start pulling from the 49M carat (total reserve value at a 1.57 c/t grade on a probable mineral reserve of some 31.3M tonnes) cluster of four distinct diamondiferous kimberlite pipes, which was recently (March) independently estimated at a valuation of $186/carat. The 2010 definitive feasibility study (Technical Report NI 43-101, December 3rd) offers us a base internal rate of return of 33.9% for the project and the company also announced progress today regarding their 49% share of the capital budget (includes working capital, roughly $300.8M total), as multiple financing opportunities have emerged, with proposals/instruments available to meet pending obligations handsomely.
President and CEO of MDM, Patrick Evans, commented on the rigorous attention paid by all review participants to maintaining the highest social/environmental standards possible. Something not hard to do when the EIR is being managed by a firm like the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board over in Yellowknife, which has a marked track record of such achievements. Evans underscored the gratifying availability of strong interest from some of the top players in global mining finance and explained that this bounty of interest was a clear indicator of the robust economics of the project, as well as the dominating industry presence of partner DeBeers.
The breadth of experience possessed by heavily diversified global mining superpower, Anglo American PLC (45% stake in DeBeers), goes a long ways towards shoring up investor confidence; after all, when you’ve got that kind of muscle in the back-field, it’s hard to lose ball games. With an open-pittable reserve, an incredibly strong partnership, and the kind of rock-solid commitment to maintaining shareholder value evident in the company’s focus on not diluting the share structure, Mountain Province Diamonds easily has one of the most exciting diamond development JV’s on earth going right now and investors are taking notice.
On track to be pulling some serious carats, Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. can be researched in greater detail by visiting the company’s website located at: www.MountainProvince.com
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