This item is part of Stockwatch's value added news feed and is only available to Stockwatch subscribers.

Here is a sample of this item:

by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Tuesday was a mediocre 70-89-151 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose fractionally to 551. Dermot Desmond and Mark Wall's Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVD) was among the unchanged, closing at 25 cents on 242,000 shares.

Mountain Province rolled out its 2023 production and sales performance data for the Gahcho Kue mine in the Northwest Territories today, providing a clearer view of the wobbly rough diamond market. The company's 49-per-cent share of diamonds mined last year was 2.72 million carats, an ever-so-slight increase over the 2.70 million carats it recovered in 2022. It did so by processing more kimberlite, as the average grade last year -- 1.71 carats per tonne -- was down slightly from the 1.78 carats per tonne achieved in the previous year.

None of this comes as a surprise -- certainly not a pleasant one -- as the tonnes processed and carats recovered fell at the bottom end of the 2023 guidance for the mine. Gahcho Kue processed 3.25 million tonnes, nosing into the predicted 3.2-million-to-3.5-million-tonne range, while the carat haul matched the lower limit of the 5.6-million-to-6.1-million-carat prediction.

The remainder is available to Stockwatch subscribers.
Sign-up for a FREE 30-day Stockwatch subscription and SEE NO ADS