Stornoway unveils the first Quebec-mined diamonds at Maison Birks in Montreal

As the old song goes, diamonds are a girl’s best friend, and Matt Manson’s display of gems confirmed it. Diamonds are special because they are often used to express our love for one another, Manson told reporters at a press conference in Montreal May 11.

Manson is the President and CEO of Stornoway Diamond Corporation. He was full of pride as he presented the company’s first 200 diamonds from the the Renard Mine north of Mistissini at a special event co-hosted with Birks jewellers at their flagship store.

After 20 years of prep work, the diamond-mining project has finally reached the production stage. Thanks to the 2012 Mecheshoo Agreement, the last few years has witnessed Cree participation and partnerships. Hundreds of Crees worked on the construction of the road leading to the mine and at the mine site itself, resulting in an economic boom for the community of Mistissini.

As part of the Mecheshoo Agreement, the families whose traplines the mine is located on have been on a local committee and are involved in the decision-making process to ensure that the land be handled in a way that it can be easily restored to its original state when the mining activity ceases.

“The families were involved in the process right from the beginning; it’s been very important for them to know what has been happening on the territory,” said Mistissini Chief Richard Shecapio, who was on hand to speak at the event.

“By getting them involved from day one, it allowed the families to communicate directly with the company so that they could stay informed and have a good understanding as to what would happen with the land and what (the company was) trying to accomplish,” Shecapio said.

While fewer Crees are now involved with the mine compared to the construction phase, Shecapio said there are still many who will have career-long employment at the mine.

As for the diamonds themselves, “I am pretty sure that people from around the community will want a piece of that jewellery. I want one for my wife as well,” said Shecapio.

During his speech, Manson stated, “We are honoured to be able to partner with Birks in the presentation of Quebec’s first diamonds to the retail market. It is fitting that these first beautiful, Quebec diamonds derived from Quebec’s first diamond mine should premier for sale at Maison Birks, Quebec’s most storied diamond jeweler. This evening’s event marks another step in the long journey to bring the Renard Mine and Renard diamonds to the global market.”

Manson told the Nation that the story of the Renard Mine and Stornoway is a terrific made-in-Quebec story.

“It has been 20 years from when the original exploration work set out to find diamonds, it has been millions of dollars and hundreds of people working and continuous activity over that time. It takes a very long time to get a diamond mine into production and so there is a huge amount of sweat equity that has been put into this vision of having this mine produce diamonds from Quebec.”

At the event over 200 polished diamonds were unveiled to the public, including eight-carat gems priced at over $600,000. The diamonds will tour Quebec and be displayed at various Birks’ locations.