Canadian diamond exploration and development company Stornoway Diamond Corporation, through its subsidiary Les Diamants Stornoway, has closed a finance agreement with the Québec Ministère des Finances et de l’Économie (MFE).
The agreement will enable the firm to complete the construction of a mining-grade access road to the Renard Diamond Project.
Under the agreement, MFE will extend a credit facility of up to C$77m ($77.99m) to Stornoway at an annual interest rate of 3.35% for 15 years.
The deal follows an earlier announced Framework Agreement and associated Letter of Intent signed between Québec and Stornoway on 15 November 2012.
Under this agreement, the Québec Ministère des Ressources Naturelles will complete the first 143km of the road over segments A and B as a 70km/hr two-lane gravel highway, as previously planned.
Starting in April 2013, Stornoway will assume construction of the remaining 97km covered by segments C and D as a 50km/hr single-lane mining grade road.
Given the reduced scope of the mining road that will be built on segments C and D, and the progress that has been made to date on segments A and B, it is expected that construction will be completed by Q4 of 2013.
Image: The Renard Diamond Mining Project. Photo: Stornoway.
