Oct 24 2013
Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. ("Peregrine" or "the Company") today provided an update on activities at its 100 percent-owned Chidliak diamond project ("Chidliak" or "the Project"), located on Baffin Island, 120 kilometres from Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada.
After close of business on October 22, Peregrine received written notice from De Beers Canada Ltd. ("De Beers") of their decision to not enter into the earn-in and joint venture agreement regarding Chidliak. This agreement was first announced on September 5, 2012. The ongoing work and funding commitments that have previously been made by De Beers will be completed as agreed.
Mr. Eric Friedland, CEO of Peregrine, stated, "Chidliak has benefitted greatly from De Beers' involvement over the last year and we are cognisant of their reasons not to proceed given the challenging mining market our industry is currently experiencing. Our team looks forward to advancing Chidliak on a 100 percent ownership basis and we are fast-tracking the processing of the CH-6 kimberlite bulk sample collected this spring with initial diamond content and valuation results anticipated in January, 2014. The results from CH-6 and new exploration and conceptual mining data generated by De Beers will be utilized to formulate optimum exploration and sampling programs for 2014 and 2015."
Dense media separation ("DMS") processing of the initial 250 tonnes of material from the CH-6 bulk sample was completed on October 18 at the De Beers Sudbury, Ontario, laboratory. The resulting concentrate is now in the process of being transported to the Saskatchewan Research Council ("the SRC") facility in Saskatoon for final diamond recovery. Diamond recovery from this first 250 tonne sample is expected to commence in November with initial diamond content and valuation results reported in January, 2014. As announced on September 9, 2013, the cost of processing the first approximately 250 tonnes of bulk sample material and diamond recovery work at the SRC from the resulting concentrate will be paid for by De Beers as previously agreed.
De Beers has also agreed to process the remaining approximately 250 tonnes of the CH-6 bulk sample to concentrate and this work will be paid for by Peregrine at De Beers' actual cost to process. Processing of this material has commenced and will be completed in November.
Peregrine and De Beers will be meeting during the first week of November to complete the handover of all technical and other data as required by the Option and Subscription agreement signed by the two companies on September 4, 2012. The data will include the final results from the 2013 field program, operated by De Beers, including the total number of new kimberlite occurrences that were discovered, final geophysical data, kimberlite geologic models, all surfical and structural mapping data and interpretations. Importantly, all new kimberlite targets that have been defined by De Beers will be provided to Peregrine.
Detailed information regarding plans for the 2014 field season at Chidliak will be provided in the first quarter of 2014, after receipt of all the CH-6 diamond valuations and a thorough evaluation of the new data generated by De Beers this year.
Mr. Alan O'Connor, Professional Geologist, Peregrine's Chidliak Project Manager, is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the design and conduct of the programs carried out by the Company at Chidliak, including the collection of the CH-6 bulk sample. Mr. Howard Coopersmith, an independent consultant to the diamond industry, is Peregrine's external Qualified Person for sample processing and diamond recovery.
Messrs. O'Connor and Coopersmith have reviewed this release and approve of its contents.