Stornoway Diamond Corporation has completed the drawdown of the third and final $90m tranche of diamond stream funding from Orion Mine Finance, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities.
Under Stornoway’s C$946 million1 project financing transaction, which closed on July 8th, 2014, a total of US$250 million in upfront stream payments were committed by Orion and the CDPQ to fund in three tranches, scheduled for March 2015, September 2015 and March 2016.
On April 28th, 2015, Blackstone announced that it had acquired a minority position in the Renard Diamond Stream from Orion by way of a secondary market transaction. Drawdown of each tranche is conditional upon the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions, including the independent certification of construction progress at the Renard Diamond Project and its cost to complete being within plan. With these conditions having been met, the third and final stream tranche has been funded on schedule.
The US$90 million of funds received from the third tranche of stream payments were converted to Canadian dollars upon deposit at an exchange rate of $1.2951, representing a cash gain to the Corporation of C$17.6 million compared to the July 2014 funding plan, which assumed a C$:US$ exchange rate of $1.10.
Following utilization of 75% of the proceeds from the third stream tranche and the satisfaction of certain other terms and conditions, Stornoway will be entitled to draw upon its $100 million senior secured loan from DIAQUEM Inc. to complete mine development. Stornoway’s current cash resources and committed funds are sufficient to cover planned mine development expenses, financing and corporate costs during calendar 2016.
Stornoway is pleased to announce the appointment, effective April 1, 2016, of Mr. Robert Chausse to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Between 2012 and 2015 Mr. Chausse, a Chartered Accountant, was Executive Vice President and CFO of Aurico Gold Inc. until its acquisition by Alamos Gold Inc. and, subsequently, the Chief Financial Officer of Aurico Metals Inc. Prior to Aurico, Mr. Chausse held progressively senior finance roles at Barrick Gold Corporation, Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation and Kinross Gold Corporation. Mr. Chausse will be based at our head office in Montreal, Quebec and joins the company as we commence the transition from project development to mine operations and first diamond sales.
Stornoway is also pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Orin Baranowsky to the new role of Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Development. Mr. Baranowsky joined Stornoway in June 2013 as Director, Investor Relations after serving as Vice President, Investor Relations for CB Gold and as Vice President, Equity Research at BMO Capital Markets. Mr. Baranowsky will remain based in Toronto, Ontario.