Excellent diamond grades for Gahcho Kué

Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Oct. 23 reported that the Gahcho Kué Mine in Northwest Territories recovered 1.82 million carats of diamonds during the third quarter.

Owned by Mountain Province (49 percent) and De Beers Canada (51 percent), the Gahcho Kué Mine began commercial production in 2017.

During the quarter ended Sept. 30, Gahcho Kué processed 759,000 metric tons of material averaging 2.4 carats per metric ton during the quarter. This is 8 percent less than the same period last year due to a planned maintenance shut down in the plant. Mountain Province said that despite the maintenance shutdown, the daily throughput continues to meet targets for the year.

As a result of the higher than anticipated grades during the third quarter, the year to date head grade at the Gahcho Kué plant has reached 2.21 carats per metric ton, which is 5 percent higher than the grade forecast for this year.

As of Sept. 30, Mountain Province said it remains well positioned to achieve the upper end of its full year 2018 production guidance of 6.3 million to 6.6 million carats recovered.

"The third quarter performance continues to follow the trend of ongoing excellent performance set by the GK Mine team, in a safe and sustainable manner," said Mountain Province Diamonds President and CEO Stuart Brown. "We expect this trend to continue into the last quarter of the year. The continued good performance is pleasing as the mine matures into its steady state production methodology of continuous improvement."

–SHANE LASLEY