Name of the Project
Star-Orion South diamond project.

Location
The project is situated in the Fort à la Corne diamond district of central Saskatchewan, Canada.

Project Owner/s
Star Diamond Corp.

Project Description
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) has determined that an estimated 66-million carats of diamonds could be recovered from a surface mine over a 34-year life-of-mine.

The PEA envisages the development of two openpits, initially Orion South, followed by Star, using conventional openpit methods.

Conventional hydraulic excavators and haul trucks create a starting “key” for three bucket wheel excavators to remove the sand and clay overburden from the kimberlite. Conveyor belts will transfer the sand and clay from the excavators to the nearby overburden waste area. The exposed kimberlite will be lightly blasted and conventional hydraulic shovels will load the rock into trucks. These trucks will transfer the rock to an in-pit feeder and the kimberlite delivered to the processing plant using a conveyor belt.

The processing facility will have the capacity to process 45 000 t/d of kimberlite using autogenous milling, followed by screening, X-ray transmission diamond recovery and dense-media separation of heavy mineral concentrate.

The recovery section will use X-ray technology, with grease as the scavenging technology to recover the low-luminescence diamonds. The diamonds will be sorted into parcels in the on-site sorting facility.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

All-in Sustaining Costs/All-in Costs
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an after-tax net present value, at a 7% discount rate, of $2-billion and an internal rate of return of 19%, with a payback of 3.5 years after the start of construction.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital expenditure is estimated $1.41-billion.

Planned Start /End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Star Diamond has said that it will take all necessary actions to ensure that its interests in the Star-Orion South project, in which Rio Tinto Exploration Canada (RTEC) is earning into, are protected.

Star has accused Rio Tinto of not complying with the terms of a joint venture agreement for operating the Star-Orion South exploration project.

In 2017, RTEC entered into a deal with the Canadian miner, giving Rio Tinto the right to acquire shares in the proposed mine. In November, five years earlier than its original deadline, Rio Tinto gave Star Diamond notice it wanted to buy a 60% stake in the site.

However, Star Diamond has said that a review by a special committee at Star Diamond, together with independent legal counsel, has found that Rio Tinto does not comply with all the terms of the agreement.

Star Diamond has said that a review conducted by its independent directors has also concluded that RTEC’s claimed expenditures on the Star-Orion South diamond project also do not comply with the 2017 deal.

Additionally, Rio Tinto has not provided Star Diamond with data from its drilling operations at the site, the Canadian miner has said. Despite this, the company still supports Rio Tinto’s involvement in the project.

Star Diamond has sent Rio Tinto notice that it must immediately comply with all its obligations under the agreement.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
SGS Canada; DRA Americas and ENGCOMP Engineering and Computing Professionals (PEA).

Contact Details for Project Information
Star Diamond Corp, tel +1 306 664 2202 or email stardiamondcorp@stardiamondcorp.com.