Lack of Large Stones Hits Mountain Province Sales

RAPAPORT... Mountain Province's sales dropped at its July tender,as a lack of large and fancy stones led to a lower average price. The miner sold 334,751 carats of diamonds from its GahchoKu?(C) mine for $22.2 million, at an average price of $66 per carat, it saidWednesday. In June, Mountain Province garnered $30.3 million from thesale of stones from the mine, achieving a rate of $85 per carat. However, thatfigure included the sale of a 95-carat rough, which boosted the average price,as the stone sold for more than double the miner's previous record for asingle diamond. Mountain Province and De Beers, its partner in Gahcho Ku?(C),bid for the right to sell large stones and fancies from each run of production.In July, De Beers won the right to sell those diamonds. The July sale was "well attended by customers despite the normalmarket slowdown which occurs in advance of the market's summer break," notedReid Mackie, the miner's vice president of diamond marketing. Mountain Province also noted a slight weakening of pricesfor smaller, lower-priced diamonds at the July tender. That, combined with thesmaller offering of fancies and specials, resulted in the lower overall averageprice. Mountain Province won the bid for the fancies and specialsfrom the most recent production from Gahcho Ku?(C). It plans to sellthose stones later this year.