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Mining News: Gahcho Kue diamonds earn higher valuation
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. Nov. 17 reported results of an independent valuation of the diamonds recovered from the Gahcho Kue Project during the exploration phase. The valuation was conducted by WWW International Diamond Consultants Ltd. and took place at the London offices of the Diamond Trading Co. Sept. 22-23. Subsequent to the valuation, WWW has revised its Price Book and all diamond values presented below are based on the WWW Price Book as of Oct. 13.
Located on Kennady Lake 300 kilometers, or 186 miles, northeast of Yellowknife, Nwt., the Gahcho Kue Project is one of the largest new diamond mine projects under development globally. The project consists of a cluster of three primary kimberlites with an indicated resource of about 14.4 million metric tons grading at 1.64 carats per metric ton (about 23.6 million carats) and an inferred resource of about 17 million metric tons grading at 1.35 c/t (about 22.9 million carats).
A total of 8,195.17 carats were valued at an average of $135 per carat, or $1.1 million. Some 2,155.70 carats from the Tuzo kimberlite were valued at $252 per carat, or $542,431, while 3,133 carats from the 5034 kimberlite were valued at $122 per carat, or $381,080. Another 2,906.45 carats were valued at $62 per carat or $179,032.
In its report to Mountain Province, WWW said the Tuzo sample and the 5034 East sample both contained one high-value large stone. For Tuzo, there was a 25.14-carat stone valued at $17,000 per carat and 5034 East had a 9.90-carat stone valued at $15,000 per carat.
Values leap 63 percent “It is encouraging that such high-value stones were recovered in samples of this size. If they are found in the same frequency throughout the resource then the modeled APs (average prices) will certainly be towards the ‘high’ values.”
Mountain Province President and CEO Patrick Evans said the valuation reflected an “encouraging” 63 percent increase in the actual price of diamonds from the Gahcho Kue Project, due primarily “to a statistically more robust sample and rising rough diamond prices” since the company’s last independent valuation of a smaller and less representative diamond parcel in 2006.
“Experience shows that during the mining phase larger populations of large, high-value diamonds are commonly recovered, which has the potential to significantly improve diamond revenues. Besides the high-value 25.14- and 9.9-carat diamonds referred to above, several other large diamonds of gem quality have been recovered from Gahcho Kue, including 7.0-carat, 6.6-carat and 5.9-carat diamonds from the 5034 kimberlite and 8.7-carat, 6.4-carat and 4.9-carat diamonds from the Hearne kimberlite. The presence of coarser diamonds is an important driver of overall diamond value at Gahcho Kue,” Evans said.
Mountain Province Diamonds is a (49 percent) joint venture partner with De Beers Canada Inc. (51 percent), which is also operator of the Gahcho Kue project. De Beers is working to develop Gahcho Kue as its third diamond mine in Canada with estimated first production in 2011.
—Mining News
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