AWDC and Stornoway hold talks on selling Renard diamonds in Antwerp

Antwerp is aiming to be the marketing and sales center for rough goods to be produced at Stornoway Corp's Renard mine in Quebec in Canada.

Ari Epstein, the CEO of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), the Belgian diamond industry umbrella body, and Kris Peeters, Minister-President of Flanders, in which Antwerp is located, met officials from Stornoway for talks on marketing the diamonds in the Belgian diamond center.

The AWDC said that Stornoway prefers to trade their goods in Antwerp.

Stornoway has all the necessary permits for the Renard project, and output is scheduled to start in July 2015 with annual production of around two million carats over the next decade.

"Because the expected quality of the diamonds is very high, the estimated yearly revenue would approach close to $328 million, the AWDC said in a statement.

There are strong precedents for selling Candian diamonds in Antwerp, with production from the Ekati and Diavik mines in the North West Territories having been marketed in Antwerp for many years.