Production up by 49% at Mountain Province 9M
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc announces its financial and operating results for Q3 2018 & says earnings from mine operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 amounted to $25.2 million and $68.3 million respectively.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2018, approximately 2443K tonnes of ore treated and 5391K carats recovered, on a 100% basis, for an average recovered grade of 2.21 carats per tonne, ahead of expectations. The recovered grade for Q3 2018 was also very high at 2.40 cpt. The Company’s 49% attributable share of diamond production for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2018 was approximately 891,000 carats and 2,642,000 carats respectively.
Stuart Brown, the Company’s President and CEO, commented, “The performance of the Gahcho Kué Mine was as expected for the quarter; we remain on track to achieve or exceed all production targets for the year in a safe and sustainable manner.
The sales for the quarter were in line with our expectations but do reflect the somewhat difficult trading conditions that have been widely reported in the rough diamond market over the recent period. The market for fancies and specials has remained strong with firm pricing in all categories.
The impact of the weakening Indian Rupee, together with the overhang from demonetisation and a major fraud in India have combined to reduce the availability of credit offered to diamantaires in the industry. A consequence of this has been a price weakening of goods of the small lower quality and brown categories where we have seen price decreases during Q3.
With major diamond jewellery retailers reporting strong results to date in 2018 and the industry forecasting a positive holiday season for sales in the US, the industry is well positioned to see some price stability return in the first half of 2019.
