Dominion Diamonds says the proposed sale of Ekati is off (CBC News North – October 9, 2020)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

The owner of the Ekati diamond mine in the Northwest Territories says the proposed $166 million dollar sale of the mine to affiliates of the Washington Companies is off.

In a press release Friday Dominion Diamonds said it had stopped negotiations around the proposed sale of certain Dominion assets, including the Ekati mine.

In the press release Dominion said it has been advised that surety bond users and the purchaser reached an “impasse in negotiations” with no reasonable chance of reaching an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties before the deal was set to go before the courts for approval on Oct. 14.

Central to the termination of the proposed sale are $280 million surety bonds posted with the Government of the Northwest Territories. The money is security against eventual reclamation expenses at the Ekati mine site. Surety bonds are a promise to pay a financial obligation on behalf of another individual or company, if that party should fail to meet its financial obligations.

In the press release, Dominion said the prospective purchasers were unable to reach an agreement with three insurance companies that are posting the reclamation securities for the mine.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/dominion-diamonds-ekati-1.5757909