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Currency Gains Boost Mountain Province Profit
Aug 7, 2019 7:57 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Mountain Province’s profit increased in the second quarter amid a stronger Canadian dollar that reduced its debt levels, it said Tuesday.
Profit jumped 61% to CAD 10.3 million ($7.8 million) for the
three months ending June 30, as it recorded exchange-rate gains of CAD 7.5
million ($5.6 million) due to the appreciation of the currency against its US counterpart. The Canada-based company pays its debt in US dollars.
Revenue from the miner’s Gahcho Kué deposit in Canada fell 7% to $71.7
million, as the miner sold rough from the lower-quality portion of the mine.
“[It] was always going to be a challenging year for [us],
considering the lower-quality ore in the mining sequence,” Mountain Province
CEO Stuart Brown explained. “The plant-processing enhancements and
modifications, in addition to all other operational optimization initiatives at
the mine, have allowed us to mitigate some of those challenges.”
Mountain Province sold 1.1 million carats at three tenders
during the second quarter, at an average price of $67 per carat.
The miner sold 1.1 million carats during the same period the year before, at an
average price of $69 per carat.
“Despite a very difficult rough-diamond market, we have had a
successful year so far, achieving all of our production targets, and have
completed the first half of the year slightly ahead of our plan,” Brown added.
“The company’s diamond sales were also marginally ahead of expectations due to
a better product mix, despite lower-quality and -grade ore feed.”
The rough-diamond market will continue to present
challenges, with continued volatility in the near term, Mountain Province
noted. However, the company expects to achieve the lower end of its production
forecast of 3.3 million to 3.45 million carats for its share of production.
The company owns 49% of the Gahcho Kué mine, with De Beers
holding the remaining 51%.
Image: Ore crushing and processing at Gahcho Kué. (Mountain Province)
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Tags:
De Beers, Gahcho Kué, mountain province, Rapaport News, stuart brown
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