Mountain Province Diamonds Receives Credit Approval for $370M Term Loan Facility

(IDEX Online News) – Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. has received credit approval for its previously announced $370 million term loan facility. The company also announced that for reasons unrelated to the transaction, Deutsche Bank A.G. has been replaced as a mandated lead arranger by the Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank). Natixis S.A. and Nedbank Limited remain joint mandated lead arrangers with Scotiabank.

There are still some more steps to go before the facility is finalized, including agreement on documentation and syndication, which are expected shortly.

We welcome Scotiabank to the lending syndicate and are very pleased to have Canada’s leading lender to the mining industry as part of the lending group Significant progress was made to complete due diligence prior to the end of 2014 and credit approval has now been received from the lead arrangers,” said Mountain Province CEO Patrick Evans.

“As at the end of December, 2014, the overall project development was more than 50 percent complete and remains on budget and schedule for first production on H2 2016,” he added.

The Gahcho Kué diamond mine, located in Canada's Northwest Territories, is a joint venture between Mountain Province Diamonds (49 percent) and De Beers Canada.

The project consists of a cluster of four diamondiferous kimberlites, three of which have a probable mineral reserve of 35.4 million tons grading 1.57 carats per ton for total diamond content of 55.5 million carats.