Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. announcing the results of its tenth diamond sale, which was completed recently in December 2017, reported yesterday that it had sold 364,000 carats of rough diamonds for the sum of US$ 19.1 million. This compares to US$ 19.0  million realised for 288,000 carats sold in its ninth sale in November 2017.

The Company said that prices for all categories have “continued to firm”; and that they increased on an average of 3% over the previous sale.

In this sale, no  fancies or specials were offered, the Company noted, as that part of the production was won by De Beers in the bid (Mountain Province and partner De Beers bid for the specials and fancies portion of the assortment prior to each sale). However Mountain Province pointed out, if the value of the fancies and specials was included (“had Mountain Province won the bid”), the normalised  value per carat realised in the tenth sale would have been US$ 65. As it stands, it amounted to US$ 53.

“The decrease in average price realisation compared to the ninth sale is due primarily to a finer size distribution of goods,” the Company explained. “Notably, the last production split of 2017, which will supply the January tender sale, saw significant volumes, an improved size frequency distribution and the largest parcel of fancy and special diamonds produced to date, both in value and volume terms.”

Reid Mackie, the Company’s Vice President Diamond Marketing, commented: “Our tenth sale saw further stabilisation of rough prices and strengthening of competition with over 150 companies attending the tender, the highest to date. This, combined with solid holiday sales results reported by the retail sector, bodes well for a positive rough market re-opening in January.”

David Whittle, the Company’s Interim President and Chief Executive Officer, said:  “After a successful first year of operations, Mountain Province anticipates  a strong start to the new year. We have a robust product offering available for our first tender sale of 2018, and the parcel of fancies and specials from the last production split of 2017 is characterized by large, high value and attractive stones. We look forward to bringing them to sale over the coming months.”