157.4-carat diamond unearthed in Canada | Polarjournal
Just before Christmas, Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. announced the recovery of a 157.4-carat diamond at the “Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine” in the Northwest Territories (Photo: Mountain Province Diamonds Inc.)

A small piece of the Northwest Territories will soon be up for sale. A Canadian mining company announced that it had found a 157.4 carat gemstone of exceptional quality in a diamond mine. It’s not the first big diamond found at the mine. In 2018, a 95-carat diamond was sold in an online auction.

The “Gahcho Kue Mine” started production in 2016. The site consists of warehouses, an airport and other infrastructure as well as open pits and a processing plant that converts kimberlite ore into raw diamonds. (Photo: De Beers)

It is the largest ‘gem quality’ diamond found to date at the “Gahcho Kué Mine”. It is scheduled to go on sale in the first quarter of 2021. This was shared by Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. in a press release. The company said it raised $63 million from the sale of 956,348 carats in the fourth quarter.

“The diamond industry faced enormous challenges in 2020. So it’s very encouraging to end the year with such a strong sales performance,” Stuart Brown, president of the Mountain Province, said in a statement. The company’s fourth-quarter 2020 revenue beat analysts’ expectations.

Economically mineable diamond deposits occur mostly in kimberlite rock. Diamonds can be sorted out and separated from the rock early in the process using X-ray sorting systems.

“Raw diamond prices in the larger and better grades were exceptional and encouragingly we saw further improvement in the smaller and lower grades, which we believe will continue to strengthen in 2021.” Brown further opined.

The Gahcho Kué mine continued to operate during the COVID-19 pandemic. A few cases of COVID-19 were detected at the mine, but all were without major impact. The good result is a much-needed morale boost for miner Mountain Province, in a terrible year for an industry that was depressed even before COVID-19 hit global markets.

The “Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine” is located in the Canadian tundra in the Northwest Territories. (Graphic: Heiner Kubny)

The mine is located approximately 280 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. Mountain Province Diamonds owns a 49 percent interest in the “Gahcho Kué Diamond Mine”, the De Beers Group, largest producer of diamonds, owns the rest of the mine.

Heiner Kubny, PolarJournal

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