(IDEX Online) - Mountain Province sold 241,827 carats for $21.8m in Antwerp at its first sale of year and reported an eight per cent increase in like-for-like prices. The miner, which holds a 49 per cent stake in Gahcho Ku?? (C) , Canada, said the results were excellent, and reflected a "growing confidence" among rough buyers.The sale, which closed on 22 January, achieved an average value of $90 per carat.Stuart Brown, the company's president and CEO, said: "We expect to see a continuation of the positive trend as rough and polished markets continue to strengthen post a successful retail season." A highlight of its February sale will be the 157-carat Polaris diamond (pictured), which appears colorless in daylight, but displays a rare natural blue fluorescence under ultraviolet light.Toronto-based Mountain Province reported Q2 losses of $21.8m last year as the pandemic closed markets, but it negotiated a lifeline with Irish billionaire Dermot Desmond, whose Bahamas-registered company Dunebridge, agreed to buy $50m of rough.