https://www.miningweekly.com

Stornoway swings to FY loss

Stornoway swings to FY loss

Photo by Stornoway Diamond Corp

26th March 2018

By: Henry Lazenby

Creamer Media Deputy Editor: North America

     

Font size: - +

VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Diamond producer Stornoway Diamond Corp has swung to a net loss of $114.6-million for 2017, compared with net income of $19.6-million in 2016.

Longueuil, Quebec-based Stornoway said its full-year results reflected a lower diamond price environment than originally forecast.

The company noted that net income before impairments came to $11.1-million for the fourth quarter and $15-million for the year.

For the full year, Stornoway sold 1.7-million carats, to raise gross proceeds of $186.2-million at an average price of $85/ct. Diamond sales totalled 486 633 ct in the fourth quarter, raising gross proceeds of $52.6-million at an average price of $86/ct.

“In 2017, Stornoway’s Renard diamond mine produced a strong performance in mining, carat production, processing ramp-up and cost. It has delivered strong operating margins, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of C$85-million, despite the lower diamond pricing environment that has characterised our first year of sales,” president and CEO Matt Manson said in a statement.

Renard has established itself as the lowest-cost diamond mine in Canada, and its diamonds have developed a strong position in the rough diamond market, Manson added.

He noted that the first half of this year will see ore production transition from the starter openpit to the underground mine. Ensuring an efficient ramp-up of the underground operations is a key priority for the Renard team.

Stornoway believes it can improve diamond prices further by addressing the continued breakage problem. The secondary cone crusher and tertiary high-pressure grinding roll crusher have been singled out as the source of the breakage, and appears associated with the high proportion of hard, internal dilution inherent in Renard ore, producing an abrasive environment within the crushers.

To this end, Stornoway is introducing a new ore-waste sorting circuit designed to improve the quality of its diamond production and provide future processing expansion capacity.

Manson stated that both of these capital projects, once completed, will define the character of the project for the next decade.

“Since the completion of our project fundraising in 2014, and through four years of mine construction and operations, Stornoway has maintained a strong balance sheet and liquidity position. This will remain a priority for us in our financial management as we pass through the scheduled capital spending of 2018 and pursue the production and revenue growth potential of our business.”

Stornoway has guided for full-year 2018 output of 1.6-million carats of diamonds.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

Showroom

SAIMC (Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control)
SAIMC (Society for Automation, Instrumentation, Mechatronics and Control)

Education: Consulting with member companies to obtain the optimal benefits from their B-BBEE spending, skills resources as well as B-BBEE points

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Stewarts & Lloyds
Stewarts & Lloyds

Stewarts & Lloyds today supplies steel and tube, pipe and fittings, valves, pumps, irrigation, fencing, profiling and roofing products. The cash...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.107 0.142s - 107pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now