Stornoway Receives Third and Final $90 Million Stream Financing Tranche

(IDEX Online News) – Stornoway Diamond Corporation announced that it has received the third and final $90 million tranche of diamond stream funding from Orion Mine Finance, the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Blackstone Tactical Opportunities.

The final tranche comprised part of a $250 million investment in upfront stream payments, committed by Orion and CDPQ, with the first two payments having arrived in March 2015 and September 2015. Drawdown of the tranches was conditional upon certain terms and conditions, including the independent certification of construction progress at the Renard Diamond Project and its cost to complete being within plan. Stornoway recently announced that the project was on budget and ahead of schedule.

The strength of the US dollar also benefitted the company as it converted the tranche into Canadian dollars, netting Stornoway an additional cash gain of C$17.6 million ($13.6 million). The July 2014 funding plan assumed an exchange rate of C$1.10:$1.00 (and it currently stands at C$1.29:$1.00).

Once Stornoway has utilized 75 percent of the proceeds from the third stream tranche and satisfied certain other requirements, it will be entitled to draw upon a $100 million secured loan from DIAQUEM Inc., to complete mine development.

The company also announced new management appointments, including Robert Chausse as chief financial officer and Orin Baranowsky as vice president, investor relations.