DIAMONDS: Stornoway pours first concrete for Renard plant

QUEBEC – Montreal's Stornoway Diamond Corp. announced on April 7 that it has begun the main concrete pour for the processing plant at the Renard diamond mine, now under development 350 km north of Chibougamau. The milestone was reached despite below average temperatures at the site this winter. The project remains on time and on budget.

Stornoway says concrete work for the plant foundations will continue through spring and early summer, with the erection of structural steel to begin in June. The crushing and recovery circuits will be installed in the first half of next year, after the building has been completed and heated.

A 10 month commissioning ramp-up is planned, beginning with wet commissioning of the plant in the second half of this year. Commercial production will achieved in the second quarter of 2017 and full production, 2.2 million tonnes of kimberlite annually, by the summer of 2017.

Construction progress at the Renard diamond plant can be followed with a recently installed webcam available at StornowayDiamonds.com.