Peregrine Diamonds reports diamond valuations

Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. [PGD-TSX] has released the results of an independent diamond valuation for an aggregate 735.75-carat parcel of commercial-size (plus-1.18-millimetre-square-mesh) diamonds recovered from five geological units of the CH-7 kimberlite pipe at the company’s 100%-owned Chidliak diamond project, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada.

The current average price was US $100 per carat, and ranged from US $73 to US $154 per carat across parcels from the five geological units represented. The modeled average price ranged from a low of US $94 per carat to a high of US $155 per carat, with a base modeled price of US $114 per carat. The eight highest-value diamonds ranged in size from 1.35 carats to 5.33 carats, weighed 21.58 carats in total and had a current average price valuation of US $1,619 per carat.

The diamond valuation was undertaken in Antwerp, Belgium, by WWW International Diamond Consultants, an international diamond valuation and consultancy company. Diamond prices were determined using WWW’s Feb. 1, 2016, price book and its proprietary price modelling techniques which predict the average price per carat in a mine production scenario. Through its partnership in Diamonds International Canada Ltd., WWW performs the Canadian federal and provincial government diamond valuations for producing diamond mines in Canada and has been working with Canadian diamond production since 1998.

Photos of the valued diamonds from CH-7 are available at the company’s website.

Neil Buxton, responsible for geostatistical modeling at WWW, said, “Based on our analysis of the parcel, WWW believes that, if CH-7 were in production in the current diamond market, it is unlikely that the average price would be lower than the low average modelled price. It is equally important to understand that the high average modeled price does not represent a maximum price and that the ultimate diamond price could be higher than US $155 per carat. These results need to be confirmed with a larger sample.”

Tom Peregoodoff, Peregrine’s President and CEO, said, “This result represents the successful culmination of the 2015 resource development program at Chidliak and is further confirmation that Chidliak is Canada’s highest-potential undeveloped diamond resource. The diamond valuations from CH-7 provided by WWW will support the maiden CH-7 resource statement expected this month and, together with the revised resource at CH-6, will form the foundation of the independent preliminary economic assessment of a phase 1 diamond mine expected this June.”