Mountain Province enters final quarter with ‘cautious level of confidence’
The rough diamond market is starting to show some positive momentum, with prices having recovered close to pre-Covid levels from the lows seen during the peak of the pandemic, Canadian miner Mountain Province CEO Stuart Brown said on Wednesday.
Although demand for rough diamonds was not yet back to pre-Covid-19 levels, the low amount of supply coming into the market had helped raise industry confidence levels, he said.
During the third quarter, Mountain Province restarted its traditional sales process in Antwerp.
The company sold 956 000 ct at an average realised price of C$50/ct, or $37/ct, for total proceeds of C$47.3-million, which comprised sales to Dunebridge Worldwide and the company’s first traditional sale since the start of the pandemic.
Year to date and as of September 30, the company generated revenue of C$146.8-million (at an average realised value of C$62/ct, compared with C$211.3-million in 2019 at an average realised value of C$84/ct). Sales data since the start of the pandemic do not include the sale of any fancies and special diamonds.
"From an operational perspective, there is no doubt it has been a difficult year so far; we have had to implement numerous new procedures to mitigate the challenges posed by Covid -19. The mine operations team has adapted to the new protocols on site and production output has stabilised.
"With the successful implementation of mitigating actions at site, the start of the recovery in diamond pricing and the finalisation and extension of the short-term funding facility, we have a cautious level of confidence as we enter the final quarter of the year,” Brown said.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation