Canada’s Top Ten diamond companies

Canada is home to many diamond companies and some of the world’s best diamond mines. Here’s a list of the top ten diamond companies with headquarters in Canada, based on market capitalization as of June 3 and compiled by MiningIntelligence.

Lucara Diamond

Market Cap: $297.7 million (US$246.7 million)

Lucara Diamond (TSX: LUC) owns the Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. The mine is one of the world’s foremost producers of large, high-quality, Type IIA diamonds in excess of 10.8 carats. These include the historic 1,758 carat Sewelo, the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona and the 813 carat Constellation, which sold for a record US$63.1 million.

In June, Lucara announced it had recovered a 1,174 carat diamond, which represents the third plus-1,000 carat diamond recovered from the South Lobe of Karowe’s AK6 kimberlite since 2015 (including Setwelo and Lesedie La Rona). The company said several other diamonds of similar appearance were recovered the same day, indicating that the 1,174 carat diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of more than 2,000 carats.

Large diamonds account for about 70% of the company’s revenue.

In a corporate presentation in June, the company noted it had sold 3.2 million carats from Karowe since production began in 2012. It has also started on a US$514-million underground expansion at Karowe that will extend the mine life to 2040.

In addition to Karowe, Lucara owns 100% of Clara Diamond Solutions, which is a digital sales platform that uses proprietary analytics together with cloud and blockchain technologies to modernize the existing diamond supply chain, and ensure diamond provenance from mine to buyer.

The company has paid out US$271 million in dividends from 2014-2019.

Star Diamond

Market Cap: $120.6 million (US$100 million)

Star Diamond’s (TSX: DIAM) Fort a la Corne kimberlites, including the Star-Orion South diamond project, are located in central Saskatchewan, 60 km east of the city of Prince Albert.

A preliminary economic assessment in 2018 of the Star and Orion South kimberlites estimated that 66 million carats of diamonds could be recovered from a surface mining operation over a 34-year mine life. The PEA was based on a model of developing two open pits, initially on Orion South and subsequently on Star, and a central processing plant.

The early stage study forecast an after-tax net present value (at a 7% discount rate) of $2 billion and an internal rate of return of 19%. Pre-production capital costs were pegged at $1.4 billion with a payback of 3.4 years. The study envisioned a processing rate of 45,000 tonnes of kimberlite per day. Total potential plant feed was estimated at 470 million tonnes at a weighted average grade of 14 carats per hundred tonnes.

Rio Tinto (NYSE: RIO; LSE: RIO; ASX: RIO) signed an agreement in 2017 to earn up to a 60% stake in the Star-Orion South project by spending up to $75 million over 7.5 years. The two companies are engaged in a legal dispute over whether Rio Tinto has completed its obligations under the agreement.

Mountain Province Diamonds

Market Cap: $96.8 million (US$80.3 million)

Mountain Province Diamonds‘ (TSX: MPVD) flagship asset is its 49% interest in the Gahcho Kue mine in Canada’s Northwest Territories. The mine is a joint-venture with De Beers Canada, which owns 51% and is the operator. Gahcho Kue produces about 6 million carats of diamonds a year, making it one of the world’s largest.

The Gahcho Kue property consists of several kimberlites that are being mined, developed and explored for future development.

The company also owns 100% of Kennady North, an advanced exploration project that surrounds Gahcho Kue. Three of the kimberlites at Kennady North are less than 10 km from Gahcho Kue and have resource estimates.

Kennady’s Kelvin kimberlite has an indicated resource of 8.5 million tonnes grading 1.60 carats per tonne. Faraday 2 has an inferred resource of 2.07 million tonnes grading 2.63 carats per tonne and Faraday 1-3 has an inferred resource of 1.87 million tonnes grading 1.04 carats per tonne.

Diamond Fields Resources

Market Cap: $17.6 million (US$14.6 million)

Diamond Fields Resources’ (TSXV: DFR) wholly owned subsidiary, Diamond Fields (Namibia), has two key diamond mining licences in Namibia. It has a ten-year mining licence (Dec. 5 2015-Dec. 4 2025) for the ML 111 concession, which lies within Luderitz Bay between Diaz Point in the south and Marshall Forks in the north and at depths of 15 to 70 metres; and another ten-year mining licence, (valid until November 2029), for the ML139 concession, which lies to the north of ML111.

In addition, Diamond Fields Resources’ 70%-owned subsidiary, Namibian Diamond Company, owns a mining licence (expires in December 2023) for the ML32 concession, which is adjacent to the east of both ML111 and ML139.

In western Madagascar, the company is focused on its Beravina project, a hard rock zircon deposit with an inferred resource of 1.5 million short tons grading 22.7% zircon. The 625-hectare project is about 220 km east of the port of Maintirano. The company has an agreement with TMH Acquisition Co., a special purpose vehicle set up by Denham Mining Fund LP, to advance the project, and it has an option to acquire 100% of the project.

North Arrow Minerals

Market Cap: $12.7 million (US$10.6 million)

North Arrow Minerals (TSXV: NAR) is focused on diamond opportunities in Canada. Its most advanced asset is the Q1-4 diamond deposit at its Naujaat project in Nunavut, where it is undertaking a $5.6 million 2,000-tonne bulk sample. The program is funded by partner Burgundy Diamond Mines (ASX: BDM), as part of an option agreement signed last year under which Burgundy can earn a 40% stake in the project.

North Arrow has identified a total of eight kimberlite pipes as well as several laterally extensive kimberlite dyke systems at Naujaat. The Q1-4 kimberlite has an inferred resource of 48.8 million tonnes grading 5.36 carats per hundred tonnes for 26.1 million carats (down to a depth of 205 metres). The company says drilling has the potential to expand the resource at depth, with the deepest hole terminating in kimberlite at a depth of 376 metres. Q1-4 hosts a population of rare orangey-yellow diamonds.

The company is also evaluating kimberlite fields at the Mel project in Nunavut and the Pikoo project in Saskatchewan, as well as the Loki and LDG projects in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories. The LDG project is a joint-venture with Arctic Canadian Diamond Co.

In addition to diamonds, North Arrow owns 100% of the Hope Bay Oro gold project in Nunavut, about 3 km north of Agnico Eagle Mines’ Doris gold mine.

Arctic Star Exploration

Market Cap: $12.5 million (US$10.4 million)

Arctic Star Exploration’s (TSXV: ADD; US-OTC: ASDZF) flagship is its Diagras project in the Lac de Gras region of the Northwest Territories, about 22 km northeast of the Diavik diamond mine and 36 km east of the Ekati diamond mine.

In June, Arctic Star doubled its ground position at the Diagras project to 48,345.95 hectares. The new ground includes the PL01 kimberlite, bringing the total number of known kimberlites at the project to 29. Arctic Star now plans to fly EM time domain and magnetic surveys at Diagras.

The project is a joint-venture with Margaret Lake Diamonds (TSXV: DIA) and Arctic Star took over management this year and proposed a $2.1 million “spring 2021” budget to drill geophysical targets on the property. At the end of this budget period, slated for July 31, Arctic Star will own about 80% of the project and Margaret Lake Diamonds 20%.

Elsewhere in Canada the company holds the Redemption project in the Northwest Territories’ Lac de Gras kimberlite field, as well as the Stein diamond project in Nunavut, about 85 km northwest of Taloyoak.

In Finland, Arctic Star owns the Timantti project, 17 km from the town of Kuusamo. Timantti has  two diamond-bearing kimberlites — Black Wolf and White Wolf — about 450 km from the Lomonosov and Grib diamond mines in Russia.

Archon Minerals

Market Cap: $12.2 million (US$10.2 million)

Archon Minerals (TSXV: ACS) has diamond properties in the Mackenzie mining division in the Northwest Territories.

It has a 2.3% royalty on gross diamond production from the Buffer zone, which sits adjacent to the Ekati diamond mine, now owned by Arctic Star Diamond. The Buffer zone contains the Jay and Lynx pipes. Archon’s royalty also covers at least 11 additional smaller kimberlite pipes, with a combined total of more than 30 hectares. In contrast to the Jay pipe, the company says, these smaller pipes are in small drainable lake settings and could be “fast-tracked to production by non-waste-pit vertical mining methods being developed for Lynx.” In an MD&A in February, Archon noted that 10 new pipes were discovered in the past exploration season, of which five are in the east Buffer zone and subject to the company’s gross royalty.

In addition, Archon owns 100% of about 200,000 acres of mineral leases located in the western Buffer zone.

Archon also holds a minority stake in the Monument diamond project on the south shore of Lac de Gras. There are 12 known kimberlites at Monument, and are part of the Lac de Gras cluster and lie within 40 km of the Ekati and Diavik diamond mines.

Metalex Ventures

Market Cap: $11.2 million

Metalex Ventures (TSXV: MTX) has wholly owned mineral claims in the Kyle Lake region of Ontario, about 80 km west of De Beers’ Victor mine and 200 km west of James Bay. The claims are subject to a 10% carried interest in favour of Kel-Ex Development Ltd. In its January MD&A, Metalex said it discovered the T1 kimberlite by drilling in 2005, and a 450 ton bulk sample recovered 12,446 commercial sized diamonds, but the pipe was not economic.

A 28,620 line km airborne geophysical survey was flown in late 2006 and priority targets were tested, which led to the discovery of three additional kimberlites (U1, U2, and U2NW) between the T1 kimberlite and DeBeers’ Victor mine. All are diamondiferous but work has focused on U2 due to its size; at over nine hectares, the company says, “U2 is one of the largest kimberlites in the region, second only to Victor.” A mini-bulk sample in 2010 (450 tons) recovered 1,946 commercial sized diamonds, and a high proportion of them were in the larger size category. The company now plans to collect a bulk sample.

Metalex also has a 72% participating interest in the Big Red diamond joint-venture in Attawapiskat, Ontario; and a 61.7% participating interest in the Dumont joint-venture, also in the Attawapiskat area.

In Quebec, Metalex has a 77.6% contributing interest in mineral claims prospective for diamonds in the Wemindji James Bay region.

Outside Canada, Metalex has a 60% interest with the Office National de Hydrocarbuerers et des Mines (ONYHEM) in Morocco (40%) to explore for diamonds in the country. It also has an option to earn up to a 70% interest in the 3,373-hectare Viljoenshof diamond project in South Africa. The property hosts several known kimberlite bodies.

Metalex Ventures’ chairman, Charles Fipke, led the team that discovered the Ekati mine.

Diamcor Mining

Market Cap: $10.5 million (US$8.7 million)

Diamcor Mining (TSXV: DMI; US-OTC: DMIFF) owns 70% of the Krone-Endora at Venetia project in South Africa, which it acquired from De Beers in February 2011. Nozala Investments owns the remaining 30% stake.

The project is adjacent to De Beers’ Venetia diamond mine in South Africa’s Limpopo province, about 500 km northeast of Johannesburg. Venetia is South Africa’s largest producer of diamonds and one of the world’s largest.

In 2009, De Beers filed a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the project, which was updated in April 2015. Krone-Endora now has an inferred resource of 57.98 million tonnes of diamond-bearing gravels, containing about 1.39 million carats of diamonds. The deposits on Krone-Endora occur in two layers with a maximum total depth of about 15 metres from surface to bedrock, which allows for a low-cost stripping operation.

In addition, Diamcor has a strategic alliance with Tiffany & Co. Canada, in which the jewelry company has the right of first refusal to buy up to 100% of Krone-Endora’s future rough diamond production at fair market prices. Under the 2011 deal, Tiffany provided $5.5 million in financing to advance the project.

GGL Resources

Market Cap: $8.9 million (US$7.5 million)

GGL Resources (TSXV: GGL) has a number of diamond exploration properties in Nunavut and in the Lac de Gras diamond district of the Northwest Territories. It also holds diamond royalties on mineral leases near the Gahcho Kue diamond mine.

Exploration at its 100%-owned Zip property, 85 km west of the Ekati diamond mine and 100 km west of the Diavik mine has returned heavy mineral samples with kimberlitic indicator mineral counts in excess of 100 grains per sample, according to the company. Airborne geophysical surveys have also identified high priority magnetic and conductive kimberlitic targets up-ice and near high-count heavy mineral samples.

At Bishop, also 100%-0wned, GGL discovered the Bishop kimberlite, which returned 11 diamonds from an initial 78.2 kilogram sample. The Bishop property, 55 km southwest of Ekati and 40 km southwest of Diavik, also contains the Courageous kimberlite, where a 78.4 kg sample of the sediments returned eight micro-diamonds, and GGL plans to complete ground geophysical surveys there. Its 100%-owned Rhombus property, 36 km northwest of Ekati and 65 km northwest of Diavik, contains four kimberlites, all of which are diamond bearing; while its 100%-owned Zeus property, is 11 km south of the Ekati mine’s Fox kimberlite.

GGL also has the option to earn a 60% stake from Arctic Star Exploration in the Stein diamond project, 45 km from tidewater and 85 km northwest of Taloyoak in Nunavut.

In addition to diamonds, the company holds the McConnell gold-copper project, 22 km southeast of the Kemess mine in north-central British Columbia, and recently acquired an option on the Gold Point project in Nevada’s Walker Lane Trend.

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