Canadian diamond miner Mountain Province has paused all discretionary spending to focus on cash generation and repaying debt, president and CEO Mark Wall said on Friday.

In its third-quarter results announcement, he said diamond markets faced “very challenging” conditions, adding that the company withheld some of the sales during the third quarter to defend its prices in the rough market.

During the third quarter, 478 653 ct were sold for total proceeds of C$60.3-million resulting in an average price of C$126/ct. These results compare with 805 227 ct sold for C$110.6-million in the third quarter of 2022, resulting in an average value of C$137/ct.

The relative reduction in volume sold in the third quarter reflects the company’s decision to strategically stock a sub-set of the lower value goods. The goods will be sold in the planned December sale.

Diamond demand has remained sluggish since August, mainly. Owing to diamond polishers adjusting to changing market dynamics. The combination of macro-economic uncertainties and delays in the post-Covid restocking of diamond jewellery in China has prompted polishers to adopt a more conservative approach towards purchasing rough diamonds and trimming their polished diamond inventories.

In response to these challenges, the Indian cutting and jewellery trade has even proposed a temporary initiative to voluntary curtail rough diamond imports into the country.

Mountain Province, which is a 49% participant with De Beers Canada in the Gahcho Kué mine in Northwest Territories, expects to meet its guidance for 2023.

However, Wall said that production was trending to the lower end of the range and that costs were trending to the mid or upper-end of the range.

During the third quarter, British Columbia and Northwest Territories experienced devastating wildfires. The evacuation of remote Northwest Territories communities, in addition to the territorial capital Yellowknife, has created labour pressures for Mountain Province on site. Many workers needed to support their families in evacuation or were unable to return to work.

Despite these challenges, operations and production have been maintained, although equipment utilisation numbers reduced owing to workforce constraints.

Further, delays to mining the higher-grade ore in the 5034 pit persisted during the quarter, caused by the previously reported safety issues related to the interactive nature of the mining of the Tuzo and 5043 pits simultaneously, said Wall.

He stated that access was being re-established to the 5034 pit bottom to restart mining in that area.