Mountain Province Diamonds has announced that it will sell a 50.25-carat gem-quality diamond from its Canadian Gahcho Kué mine in January. This is the largest stone retrieved so far from the mine.
At the January sale, three fancy yellow diamonds weighing between 3 carats and 5 carats will also be on offer, as Mountain Province won a bid to sell the September production of fancies and specials.
“[This diamond] provides further confirmation that Gahcho Kué has a population of large, high-quality gem diamonds,” says Patrick Evans, Mountain Province’s president and chief executive officer. “It is also exciting to see a population of good-size fancy yellow diamonds, which offers encouragement that we’ll see further fancy diamonds as the production ramps up.”
The mine officially opened in September, after ramp-up production on August 1, six weeks ahead of schedule. Total output in August and September stood at 198,000 carats.
Evans adds that the mine is on target to achieve commercial production early next year.
The first open tender of run-of-mine production take place in Antwerp in January and about every five weeks after that.
