Mountain Province Diamonds Releases Q1 Update

Mountain Province Diamonds (TSX:MPVD,NASDAQ:MPVD) has released its production and Q1 sales results for the Gahcho Kué diamond mine in the Northwest Territories.

As quoted from the press release:

Q1 2019 Highlights

• 870,949 tonnes treated, an 11 percent increase on comparable quarter (Q1 2018: 786,000 tonnes).
• 1,584,552 carats recovered at an average grade of 1.82 carats per tonne, slightly lower than the same period last year and mainly as a result of planned mine sequencing and lower grade ore tonnes treated during the quarter (Q1 2018: 1,641,000 carats and 2.09 carats per tonne).
• 9,528,018 total tonnes mined, a 16 percent increase on comparable period (Q1 2018: 8,202,000).
• In Q1 2019, the company sold 643,739 carats at an average value of US$71per carat ($C94 per carat) for total proceeds of US$45.8 million (C$60.7 million) in comparison to 527,000 carats sold at an average value of $US99 per carat (C$126 per carat) for total proceeds of US$52 million (C$66.6 million) in Q1 2018.

Q1 2019 Diamond Sales

Results from the company’s first two diamond sales of 2019 were promising as demand for our diamonds increased and market prices stabilised.

Reid Mackie, the company’s Vice President of Diamond Marketing, commented: “We had a strong start to 2019 with increased customer demand for our product and price increases observed across most rough diamond categories, particularly in the better quality diamonds. The rough market is showing signs of stability and there are early signs of a potential price recovery in the cheaper run of mine products where we saw low single digit increases.”

Q1 2019 Summary

Q1 2019 production results were slightly ahead of the Company’s expectation following a solid 2018 performance across all metrics. Just over 9.5 million tonnes of material were mined during the first quarter, 16 percent higher than the same period last year. The average grade during the quarter was lower than what the plant has been experiencing over the past few quarters, but in line with the expected outcome for Q1.

Click here to read the full announcement