VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct. 23, 2013) - Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. ("Peregrine" or "the Company") (News - Market indicators) today provided an update on activities at its 100 percent-owned Chidliak Diamond project ("Chidliak" or "the Project"), located on Baffin Island, 120 kilometres from Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, Canada.
After close of business on October 22, Peregrine received written notice from De Beers Canada Ltd. ("De Beers") of their decision to not enter into the earn-in and joint venture agreement regarding Chidliak. This agreement was first announced on September 5, 2012. The ongoing work and funding commitments that have previously been made by De Beers will be completed as agreed.
Mr. Eric Friedland, CEO of Peregrine, stated, "Chidliak has benefitted greatly from De Beers' involvement over the last year and we are cognisant of their reasons not to proceed given the challenging mining market our industry is currently experiencing. Our team looks forward to advancing Chidliak on a 100 percent ownership basis and we are fast-tracking the processing of the CH-6 kimberlite bulk sample collected this spring with initial Diamond content and valuation results anticipated in January, 2014. The results from CH-6 and new exploration and conceptual mining data generated by De Beers will be utilized to formulate optimum exploration and sampling programs for 2014 and 2015."
Dense media separation ("DMS") processing of the initial 250 tonnes of material from the CH-6 bulk sample was completed on October 18 at the De Beers Sudbury, Ontario, laboratory. The resulting concentrate is now in the process of being transported to the Saskatchewan Research Council ("the SRC") facility in Saskatoon for final Diamond recovery. Diamond recovery from this first 250 tonne sample is expected to commence in November with initial Diamond content and valuation results reported in January, 2014. As announced on September 9, 2013, the cost of processing the first approximately 250 tonnes of bulk sample material and Diamond recovery work at the SRC from the resulting concentrate will be paid for by De Beers as previously agreed.
De Beers has also agreed to process the remaining approximately 250 tonnes of the CH-6 bulk sample to concentrate and this work will be paid for by Peregrine at De Beers' actual cost to process. Processing of this material has commenced and will be completed in November.
Peregrine and De Beers will be meeting during the first week of November to complete the handover of all technical and other data as required by the Option and Subscription agreement signed by the two companies on September 4, 2012. The data will include the final results from the 2013 field program, operated by De Beers, including the total number of new kimberlite occurrences that were discovered, final geophysical data, kimberlite geologic models, all surfical and structural mapping data and interpretations. Importantly, all new kimberlite targets that have been defined by De Beers will be provided to Peregrine.
Detailed information regarding plans for the 2014 field season at Chidliak will be provided in the first quarter of 2014, after receipt of all the CH-6 Diamond valuations and a thorough evaluation of the new data generated by De Beers this year.
Mr. Alan O'Connor, Professional Geologist, Peregrine's Chidliak Project Manager, is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the design and conduct of the programs carried out by the Company at Chidliak, including the collection of the CH-6 bulk sample. Mr. Howard Coopersmith, an independent consultant to the Diamond industry, is Peregrine's external Qualified Person for sample processing and Diamond recovery.
Messrs. O'Connor and Coopersmith have reviewed this release and approve of its contents.
ABOUT PEREGRINE DIAMONDS
Peregrine is a Diamond exploration and development company focused on Canada's North. The Company has discovered two new Diamond districts in Nunavut, Nanuq in 2007 and Chidliak in 2008. At its 100 percent-owned Chidliak project, located 120 kilometres from Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut, 64 kimberlites have been discovered to date, and Peregrine collected a bulk sample weighing 508 wet tonnes from the CH-6 kimberlite in 2013 which is currently undergoing processing for Diamond recovery. A 14.11 tonne sample of drill core acquired from CH-6 in 2010 returned a grade of 2.84 carats per tonne. At its 72 percent-owned, nine hectare DO-27 kimberlite in the Northwest Territories, located 27 kilometres from the Diavik Diamond Mine, a NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource of 18.2 million carats of diamonds in 19.5 million tonnes of kimberlite at a grade of 0.94 carats per tonne, which is open at depth, was confirmed in 2008. Peregrine also continues to evaluate earlier stage Diamond exploration projects it controls in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories and through comprehensive evaluation of its extensive and proprietary Diamond exploration databases, is working towards discovering additional new Diamond districts in North America. A key asset being utilized in Peregrine's search for a new Canadian Diamond district is a proprietary database acquired from BHP Billiton that contains data from approximately 38,000 kimberlite indicator mineral samples covering approximately three million square kilometres of Canada.
For further information on Peregrine Diamonds, please visit www.pdiam.com.
Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including, without limitation, statements relating to the decision by DeBeers not to exercise the option to joint venture, the proposed exploration program, funding availability, anticipated exploration results, resource estimates and future exploration and operating plans are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to the decision of DeBeers not to exercise the option to joint venture, availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, world Diamond markets, future Diamond prices, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the Diamond exploration business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.
