Rough Prices Recovering at Mountain Province
May 09, 24
(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province Diamonds (MPD) sold US$66m of rough diamonds form its Gahcho Kue mine in the first quarter of this year.
That's a drop of 30 per cent on Q1 of 2023 for the Canadian miner, but an increase of 14 per cent on the previous quarter (US$58m).
Average per carat price was US$69, down from US$98 in Q1 2023, but a slight increase on US$63 on Q4 2023.
MPD, which reported an FY 2023 loss of US$32.3m, has said previously that it is cutting back on discretionary spending at the Gahcho Kue mine in Northwest Territories, Canada, which it operates as a joint venture with De Beers.
But it said Q1 was a strong quarter for ore tonnes mined and ore tonnes treated.
"We are continuing to work on production and cost optimization as well as reviewing opportunities to enhance the value of Canadian provenance in the global diamond market," said Mark Wall, the company's president and CEO.
"The processing plant continues to operate well following the 2023 improvement work. The grade from the mine was below expectations in March which led to slightly lower carat production when compared with Q1, 2023."