Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. has appointed Stuart Brown as the Company’s new President and Chief Executive Officer. The appointment will be effective July 1, 2018.

Brown’s decision to step down from his current position as CEO of Firestone Diamonds on June 30, 2018 had been announced yesterday by that Company along with the appointment of Paul Bosma as the new CEO from July 1, 2018.

With over 25 years of experience in the diamond industry, Brown is an experienced veteran with a wealth of experience across all aspects throughout the diamond pipeline from exploration, mine development and operations to the selling and marketing of diamonds.

In 2006, after numerous roles within De Beers over a period of 14 years, he was appointed as the De Beers Group Chief Financial Officer. He held that position for over five years, and in 2010 was appointed joint acting CEO to run De Beers’ global activities in addition to his CFO duties. Since September 2013, Brown has been the CEO of publicly-listed Firestone Diamonds Plc, a diamond producer in Lesotho. He was responsible for securing the funding and building the team that delivered the successful construction and transition to production of Firestone’s Liqhobong diamond mine. Brown has an enviable track record of leading business transformation to develop lean, agile and high performing organisations. He holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science from the University of South Africa.

Jonathan Comerford, Mountain Province’s Non Executive Chairman, commented, “We are very pleased to announce Stuart Brown as our new CEO. The Board conducted an exhaustive search for the role, and Stuart was a stand out candidate for the depth of his background in the diamond sector. Stuart has incredible experience in the space, having held the highest positions in De Beers. He is also very familiar with the Gahcho Kué diamond mine and its team from his time with De Beers. Mountain Province is building a strong team to execute our strategy of exploration and mining extension, and we are confident that Stuart’s experience, both in De Beers and with Firestone, and his standing in the diamond industry will add substantial value to the Company.”

Comerford continued, “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank David Whittle for stepping in as Interim CEO last June. Over the past year, he has done a tremendous job of leading the company through a difficult period with the successful refinancing of Mountain Province’s bank debt. He also completed the acquisition of Kennady Diamonds, which added significant long term value for the Company’s Shareholders. I am delighted that David will remain on the Mountain Province Board, resuming his roles as both the Senior Non Executive Director and as Head of the Audit Committee.”