With Gahcho Kué and Renard now officially in construction phase, I think it’s fair to say that in 4 years time Canadian diamond production will look significantly different than it does today.
In July, Stornoway Diamonds (TSX: SWY) completed a C$964 million financing package to fund construction of Renard. In September, Mountain Province Diamonds (TSX: MPV) closed a C$100 million equity financing and is in the final stages of arranging US$370 million in debt to fund its portion of Gahcho Kué’s capital expenditure.
Canada currently represents an estimated 14.2% of the world diamond production in value, and 8.7% in carat volume. The two new mines, set to commence production in 2016/2017, are estimated to boost Canada’s global market share to 25.2% in value, and 15.1% in volume by 2018, which would give Canada the highest compound annual growth rate of production (20.2% in value and 17.4% in volume) among the worlds 8 largest diamond producing nations over the next 4 years.
Outside of Canada, there are only 3 other large-scale commercial mines scheduled to commence operations within the next 4 years: Lace, Botuobinskaya, and Bunder, all of which have annual production profiles that are below that of both Gahcho Kué and Renard.
DiamondCorp’s (LSE: DCP) fully financed Lace project in South Africa is estimated to produce up to 500,000 carats annually, with first ROM production slated for late next year.