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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Wednesday was a so-so 70-85-155 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell four points to 718. Ernie Ortiz's Lithium Royalty Corp. (LIRC) lost 10 cents to $5.27 on 10,000 shares. The company got some indirect bad news Tuesday, with word that a deal arranged by Chris Evans's Australia-based Winsome Resources Ltd. to acquire the Renard diamond mine in north-central Quebec is drifting toward the shoals.

Winsome is not looking to become a diamond miner. It planned to repurpose the processing plant and infrastructure at Renard to handle lithium ore, most of which was to come from its nearby Adina project in central Quebec, not far from Renard. Lithium Royalty, meanwhile, holds a 4-per-cent gross overriding royalty on the Adina project, and so it has been one of Winsome's unofficial Canadian cheerleaders.

But back to Renard: Winsome acquired the exclusive right to purchase Renard out of bankruptcy for over $50-million. It seemed an intriguingly good deal at the time, but today, Winsome concedes that "in line with broader lithium sector capital management and investment decisions, [it] is unlikely to exercise the Renard option on the current terms by August" as planned -- unless market conditions improve. The deal is not dead -- paramedics are still thumping on its chest -- as Winsome says it "continues to work collaboratively" with Renard's owner, the bankrupt Stornoway Diamond Corp., and other interested parties, presumably looking for a much better deal.

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