Renard Diamond Mine's New Life, as Lithium Plant
April 10, 24
(IDEX Online) - The Renard diamond mine, in Quebec province, Canada, is to be sold and repurposed as a lithium processing plant.
Owners Stornoway filed for bankruptcy and laid off most of its 500-strong workforce last October, six years after it began commercial production.
Australian lithium miner Winsome Resources has now signed a deal allowing it to to acquire Renard, Stornoway's sole asset for C$52m (US$38.5m) in cash, shares or a mix of the two.
It will not assume Stornoway's financial debts, except for the cost of mine rehabilitation.
Winsome, which already has a significant presence in Quebec, seeks to meet a surge in demand for lithium, used to produce batteries for electric vehicles, mobile phones, laptops, and other devices.
Stornoway, co-founded by Eira Thomas (former Lucara CEO) suffered early problems with diamonds being broken during processing, had to halt operations in March 2020 because of the Covid pandemic and remained closed because of a collapse in diamond prices.
The company cited India's two-month voluntary ban on rough imports last year as one reason for its demise.