STAR DIAMOND CORPORATION ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER 2024 RESULTS
TSX: DIAM
SASKATOON, SK, Nov. 7, 2024 /CNW/ - Star Diamond Corporation ("Star Diamond" or the "Company") reports that the unaudited financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, will be filed today on SEDAR+ and may be viewed at www.sedarplus.ca once posted.
Overview
Star Diamond Corporation is a Canadian natural resource company focused on exploring and developing Saskatchewan's diamond resources. Star Diamond holds a 100% interest in the Fort à la Corne Project (the "Project") which includes the Star, Orion South Diamond Project located in central Saskatchewan, Canada. These properties are in close proximity to established infrastructure, including paved highways and the electrical power grid, which provide significant advantages for future mine development.
The Company also holds a 100% interest in the exploration and evaluation properties and assets of the Buffalo Hills Diamond Project (see August 1, 2024 news release "Star Diamond Corporation Completes Acquisition of Buffalo Hills Diamond Project") (the "BH Project"). Located approximately 400 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, the BH Project includes 21 mineral leases covering 4,800 hectares and is a significant and accessible field of diamond bearing kimberlites, with similarities to the Company's Fort á la Corne kimberlites. The BH Project is located in the Buffalo Hills Kimberlite District, which contains at least 38 individual kimberlite bodies, of which 26 kimberlites are diamond bearing and a number of which outcrop at surface.
Fort à la Corne Project
On September 5, 2024, the Company announced that the Technical Report documenting the revised Mineral Resources Estimate ("MRE") for the Star, Orion South Diamond Project had been completed. This 2024 MRE exhibits a significant increase over the previous MRE, which was published in November 2015. The table below highlights the increases in tonnes, grade and carats from the 2015 MRE to the 2024 MRE.
Star and Orion South Combined Indicated MRE of 2015 and 2024
MRE Year
Kimberlites
Total Tonnes
Grade (cpht)
Total Carats
Tonnes % Increase
Grade % Increase
Carats % Increase
2015
Star & Orion South
377,184,000
14.7
55,530,580
2024
Star & Orion South
386,186,281
18.6
71,733,763
2 %
26 %
29 %
While there is a relatively small overall increase in tonnage (2%), the significant increases in diamond grade and total carats results from the integration of Star Diamond's underground bulk sample diamond data and large diameter drilling diamond data with RTEC's Trench Cutter ("TC") diamond data. The TC diamond samples benefitted from their processing through an efficient bulk sample plant using a modern flow sheet that ensures excellent liberation and recovery of diamonds throughout the diamond size range, but particularly in the smallest commercial size fractions (+1, +3, and +5 DTC). Diamond valuation exercises have shown that diamonds from Star and Orion South, in these three small size fractions, are unusually valuable, compared to other kimberlites, due to their excellent colour and abundance of octahedral stones. Nelson Karun, the Diamond Specialist appointed in the first quarter of 2024, was responsible for the diamond valuations that are used in the 2024 MRE.
Star Diamond, working in close consultation with statistician Peter Ravenscroft, has determined that only limited improvements in precision could be achieved by additional, prohibitively costly bulk sample programs, and that the extensive work already completed will allow for robust diamond price estimates on both Star and Orion South, with associated confidence limits allowing for quantified risk analysis as part of the Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS"). Consequently, Star Diamond has determined that no additional bulk sampling is required on the Orion South Kimberlite for the rigorous estimation of these Mineral Resources, and this results in the savings of millions of dollars in exploration expenditures and shaves significant time off the completion of the PFS. This significantly increased 2024 MRE establishes an excellent foundation on which the PFS can now be built.
Buffalo Hills Diamond Project
On August 1, 2024 the Company completed the acquisition of Canterra's 50% interest in the BH Project in exchange for 17,500,000 Star Diamond common shares (the "Consideration Shares"). One half of the Consideration Shares are subject to a 12-month lock-up arrangement. In addition to the common shares, Canterra was granted a 1% royalty interest in the Project.
Management continues to review the results from the diamond valuation and typing analysis (see release dated February 21, 2023). A more detailed update on activities at the BH Project will ...
