16-05-2025
- Business
- The Market Online
Mining luminary invests in top undeveloped diamond deposit
Star Diamond (TSX:DIAM), owner of the world's largest undeveloped diamond deposit, has raised C$4 million through a private placement and C$800,000 through an unsecured loan with Spirit Resources, a Luxembourg-based private investment company
Star Diamond is a Canadian-based acquirer, explorer and developer of mineral properties with a focus on diamonds in Saskatchewan
Star Diamond stock has given back 21.88 per cent year-over-year and 75 per cent since 2020
Star Diamond (TSX:DIAM), owner of the world's largest undeveloped diamond deposit, has raised C$4 million through a private placement and C$800,000 through an unsecured loan with Spirit Resources, a Luxembourg-based private investment company.
Spirit is owned by Jean-Raymond Boulle, who previously served as chairman, founder and chief executive officer of Diamond Fields Resources, which discovered the Voisey's Bay Mine acquired by Inco in 1996 for $4.3 billion.
Boulle spent a decade at De Beers Diamond Trading Company London working in Zaire, Sierra Leone and Belgium, and maintains interests in numerous diamond exploration and mining assets, including in Namibia and Angola, in addition to controlling luxury retail companies in the downstream industry.
Boulle's decorated career also includes founding mining companies behind discoveries of nickel, cobalt, copper, zinc and titanium, as well as successfully listing companies on the AIM (England), TSXV (Canada), ASX (Australia) and SEM (Mauritius) exchanges, making him a key addition to Star Diamond's development efforts.
The company plans to allocate the proceeds to working capital, general corporate purposes and towards a pre-feasibility study for its Fort à la Corne diamond project. A 2018 preliminary economic assessment on the project's Star and Orion South kimberlites details potential production of 66 million carats over 38 years, representing an after-tax net present value of $2 billion and a payback period of only 3.4 years.
Learn about Star Diamond's near-term plans by reading the company's Q1 2025 results. Financing details
Spirit Resources will pick up 133,333,333 units priced at C$0.03 each, with each unit consisting of one common share and one share purchase warrant. Each warrant is exercisable between C$0.04 within one year and C$0.05 after two years from closing.
Upon closing, Spirit will hold 194,455,143 or 25.82 per cent of Star Diamond's issued and outstanding shares, up from 61,121,810 shares or 9.86 per cent on a non-diluted basis.
The term loan bears interest of 6 per cent per year and will mature upon the earlier of the closing of the private placement or the loan's 180th day after issuance.
The private placement is subject to shareholder approval, which will be sought at a special meeting to be announced. According to Friday's news release, closing must occur by August 29, 2025. Leadership insights
'We are very pleased to welcome Jean-Raymond Boulle as a transformative shareholder to move this incredible diamond project forward. Mr. Boulle's reputation as a successful entrepreneur in the mining sector speaks for itself and his connections in the diamond industry will be extremely useful in the search for financing to build this world-class mine,' Ewan Mason, Star Diamond's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. About Star Diamond
Star Diamond is a Canadian-based acquirer, explorer and developer of mineral properties with a focus on diamonds in Saskatchewan.
Star Diamond stock (TSX:DIAM) is up by 4.17 per cent on the news trading at C$0.062 per share as of 9:57 am ET. The stock has given back 21.88 per cent year-over-year and 75 per cent since 2020.
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