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NEWS RELEASE June 13, 2012 Shares Issued and Outstanding: 80,715,558 TSX: MPV NYSE MKT: MDM Mountain Province Diamonds Announces Successful Permitting of Kennady North Diamond ProjectDrill contract concluded
Toronto and New York, June 13, 2012 - Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. ("Mountain Province", the "Company") (TSX: MPV, NYSE MKT: MDM) is pleased to announce that the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, Kennady Diamonds Inc. ("Kennady Diamonds"), has received a Type A Land Use Permit from the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board in respect of the Kennady North diamond project.
"Receipt of the Land Use Permit clears the way for us to
commence the summer drill program at Kennady North", said
Mountain Province President and CEO Patrick Evans. "We have
retained Yellowknife-based Northtech Drilling Ltd. to conduct
a minimum 2,500 meter drill program, which will commence
immediately", Mr. Evans added.
Plans are in place for two drill rigs to be mobilized to
Kennady North with the first rig focussed on in-fill drilling
along the Kelvin - Faraday kimberlite corridor, where a
number of high priority drill targets have been identified.
The diamondiferous Kelvin, Hobbes and Faraday kimberlites,
located approximately 10 kilometers from the De Beers JV at
Gahcho Kué, were discovered in the early 2000's. The second
drill rig will test approximately twelve newly discovered
kimberlite targets that are accessible during summer. The
remainder of the high priority targets will be tested during
a second phase winter drill program which will be conducted
in early 2013.
Patrick Evans commented: "Our priority at Kennady North is to
define a resource along the Kelvin - Faraday kimberlite
corridor. The close proximity of these kimberlites to the
Gahcho Kué mine, currently being permitted with JV partner De
Beers, raises the potential for them to add to the projected
mine life. We will also be testing a number of newly
discovered high priority geophysical targets that correspond
with unexplained kimberlite mineral trains not associated
with the known kimberlites at Kennady North. We are very
excited about the Kennady North exploration program and are
also keen to commence drilling of the newly discovered
geophysical targets at the De Beers JV."
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Final analysis of the data from the Fugro airborne gravity
gradiometry (AGG) survey over the De Beers JV leases resulted
in the identification of 55 geophysical targets of which 23
are interpreted as high priority. The JV partners are
expected to announce a follow-up exploration program in the
near future.
As announced last Monday, June 11, 2012, Mountain Province
has also received conditional approval from the TSX-Venture
Exchange for the listing of Kennady Diamonds, which is being
sought as part of the previously announced plan of
arrangement ("the Arrangement"), pursuant to which the
Company will transfer the wholly-owned Kennady North project,
to Kennady Diamonds.
Upon completion of the Arrangement, Mountain Province will
also transfer working capital in the amount of C$3M to
Kennady Diamond and will distribute 100 percent of the shares
of Kennady Diamonds to Mountain Province shareholders on the
basis of one Kennady Diamond share for every five shares of
Mountain Province held by shareholders on the record date.
The record date, which will likely be before the end of June,
2012, will be the date established for the purposes of
determining the Mountain Province shareholders entitled to
receive the distribution of Kennady Diamonds' shares. A
further announcement in this regard is expected shortly.
****
The Kennady North project comprises thirteen leases and
claims located to the west and north of the four leases
controlled by the Gahcho Kué Joint Venture between De Beers
Canada Inc. (51%) and Mountain Province (49%) located in
Canada's Northwest Territories.
Exploration at Kennady North commenced in the late 1990's and
resulted in the discovery of the diamondiferous Kelvin,
Faraday and Hobbes kimberlites. The number of diamonds
recovered from these kimberlites and the size-frequency
distribution indicate that they may be of comparable grade to
the 5034 (1.77 carats per tonne) and Hearne (2.10 carats per
tonne) kimberlites at the De Beers JV. Exploration samples
from Kelvin and Faraday returned a relatively large number of
macro diamonds with the two largest being a 0.4 carat diamond
from Faraday and a 0.09 carat diamond from Kelvin.
The known kimberlites at Kennady North do not explain all the
kimberlitic indicators previously recovered from glacial till
sampling. Exploration at Kennady North was suspended in 2004
when Mountain Province focused the Company's attention on the
Gahcho Kué pre-feasibility and feasibility studies.
Exploration at Kennady North recommenced during 2011 with a
50-meter line-spacing airborne gravity gradiometry (AGG)
survey over the entire 123.6 square kilometer project area.
The survey identified 106 geophysical targets. The Company
recently completed a 560-line- kilometre total magnetic field
(MAG) ground survey over all 106 geophysical targets
identified by the AGG survey. The 39 high priority targets
identified through the AGG and MAG surveys will
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be drilled as part of an upcoming summer drill program
(approximately 20 drill targets) and 2013 winter drill
program (approximately 20 drill targets).
Gahcho Kué is the world's largest and highest grade new diamond development project. A December 2010 feasibility study filed by Mountain Province (available on SEDAR) indicates that the Gahcho Kué project has an IRR of 33.9%.
Qualified PersonThis news release has been prepared under the supervision of Carl G. Verley, P.Geo., who serves as the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements,
within the meaning of the "safe- harbor" provision
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
regarding the Company's business or financial condition.
Actual results could differ materially from those described
in this news release as a result of numerous factors, some of
which are outside the control of the Company.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Patrick Evans, President and CEO
161 Bay Street, Suite 2315
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2S1
Phone: (416) 361-3562
E-mail: info@mountainprovince.com www.mountainprovince.com
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