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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Monday was a weak 62-97-151 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell fractionally to 596. Dermot Desmond and Mark Wall's Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. (MPVD) rose one cent to 21.5 cents on 321,000 shares.

Mountain Province held its own during the first quarter of 2024, producing and selling as many carats as it could at its 49-per-cent-owned Gahcho Kue mine in the Northwest Territories, while maintaining a firm grip on the cost side of the equation. Accordingly, the company eked out a modest first-quarter profit, generating enough cash to keep the wolves from its door.

Still there are questions about how the mine and Mountain Province will fare over the rest of the year. While the company and its majority co-venturer, De Beers Canada, beavered away as best they could to smooth out the production profile over the next few years, the short term still looks to be a tough stretch. "We know that 2024 has long been a challenging year for the company," says Mr. Wall, president and chief executive officer, adding that the partners "continue to focus on the operation to make 2024 the best that it can be."

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