Peregrine eyes first production by 2021

Peregrine Diamonds (TSX: PGD) hopes to have its Chidliak project producing diamonds by 2021, as outlined in a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) released in July. Chidliak sits 120 km northeast of Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, on Canada’s Baffin Island. The study, which pegged capital costs at $435 million, projects Chidliak’s net present value at a pleasant $471 million, with an internal rate of return of 29.8% (after taxes and at a 7.5% discount rate). The operation would produce 1.2 million carats annually, with production peaking at 1.8 million carats per year. According to the study, Chidliak could generate a 72% operating margin, with pre-tax average annual free cash flows of $131 million. The company’s five-year time line to production assumes feasibility level scoping work next year, while permitting would conclude in time for development in mid-2019. The construction schedule would see the mine enter commissioning, and then production, in 2021. Read the entire story at The Northern Miner.