Peregrine Diamonds Ltd. on Feb. 15 posted a 58% increase in contained diamonds for resources hosted by the CH-6 kimberlite pipe at its Chidliak diamond project in Nunavut, Canada.

The CH-6 kimberlite hosts inferred resources containing 17.96 million carats within 7.46 million tonnes at 2.41 carats per tonne.

The previous estimate for CH-6, completed in April 2016, defined 11.39 million carats within 4.64 million tonnes at 2.45 carats per tonne.

"Since we announced our maiden inferred resource at CH-6 in May 2014, we have grown this resource by an incredible 140%, from an initial 7.5 million carats to the 18 million carats we are proud to announce today," Peregrine President and CEO Tom Peregoodoff said.

The company said phase-one diamond development resources at Chidliak now total 22.2 million carats, comprising combined resources from the CH-6 and CH-7 kimberlites.

Peregrine expects a revised preliminary economic assessment to be completed in the second quarter.

A mid-2016 preliminary economic assessment for the phase-one development outlined a 10-year mine life producing an annual average of 1.2 million carats, with an after-tax net present value of C$471.2 million, an internal rate of return of 29.8% and a two-year payback period.