Name of the Project
Star-Orion South diamond project.

Location
The Fort à la Corne diamond district of central Saskatchewan, in 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, which will transfer the rock to an in-pit feeder. The kimberlite will be 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.

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 objected to Rio Tinto's "predatory and coercive" actions, after the global miner called a meeting for a joint venture the Canadian company says does not yet exist.

The companies have been in a long-running dispute over development of Star Diamond's Star-Orion South project.

In 2017, Star Diamond entered an earn-in agreement with Rio Tinto Exploration Canada Inc, giving the Anglo-Australian miner an option to earn up to a 60% interest in the project.

Saskatoon-based Star Diamond later said Rio overspent on the project while exercising its earn-in options before completing and delivering results from its bulk sampling programme. It added that Rio Tinto was trying to boost its stake at below market value.

Rio has spent about C$168-million to complete a ten-hole bulk sample programme that Rio told Star Diamond would originally cost about C$18.5-million, according to Star Diamond.

"Rio Tinto now seeks to call a management committee meeting that it has no legal right to call for a joint venture that Rio Tinto knows has not been duly formed," Star Diamond has said in a release.

Rio did not immediately respond to a request for comment, Reuters has said.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
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.