High-Value Stones Fuel Mountain Province Prices

RAPAPORT... Mountain Province's March tender achieved the miner's highestaverage selling price to date, driven by a bigger-than-usual selection of largeand high-value diamonds, the company said. The miner sold 177,000 carats of rough from its Gahcho Ku?(C)mine at an average price of $142 per carat, for a total of $25.1 million, itreported in a statement last week. Production from the end of last year, aswell as stones brought forward from the next sale, led to the higher number of moreexpensive diamonds - known as fancies and specials. "The total proceeds and average value per carat yielded bythis sale...substantially beat our expectations," said CEO David Whittle. "Thisstrong performance reflects an encouraging start to the year for rough diamondsacross all categories, as well as the quality of the fancies and specials onoffer." The March tender was the company's second sale of the year.The average price in February was $78 per carat. The miner expects lower-than-average prices at its thirdsale of 2018, because it offered some of the better stones at its second sale.