23 March 2020
Mountain Province Diamonds Inc. today announces its financial and operating results for the fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2019. All figures are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted and are unaudited.
The Company also announces the filing of technical report for the Company's Gahcho Kué Mine entitled, Gahcho Kué Mine NI 43-101 Technical Report. The Report is effective December 31, 2019, is dated March 1, 2020 and was prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards for Disclosure of Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Report is available under Mountain Province Diamonds' profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.mountainprovince.com. The Report was prepared by Daniel D. Johnson, P. Eng., and Dino Pilotto, P. Eng., from JDS Energy & Mining Inc., both of whom are "qualified persons" defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The Report was also completed under the supervision of Keyvan Salehi, P.Eng, MBA, and Tom E. McCandless, Ph.D., P.Geo., both officers of the Company and Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
The Company is also recording a non-cash impairment charge of $115.8 million to the carrying value of the Gahcho Kué Mine's property, plant, and equipment, primarily attributable to the downward revision of future expected diamond pricing to reflect current market conditions as at the end of the financial year. At this stage, the Company withdraws all guidance metrics while COVID-19 virus impacts continue to be assessed on an on-going basis.
Operational Highlights for Q4 and FY 2019
(all figures reported on a 100% basis unless otherwise stated)
•11,089,408 total tonnes mined during the quarter, a 2% decrease on comparable period (Q4 2018: 11,365,990). 43,224,827 total tonnes mined during FY 2019, a 4% increase from comparable period (FY 2018: 41,444,057).
•890,886 ore tonnes mined during the quarter, a 33% increase on comparable period (Q4 2018: 670,707). 3,247,324 ore tonnes mined during FY 2019, a 12% increase from comparable period (FY 2018: 2,908,184).
•936,903 ore tonnes treated during the quarter, a 25% increase on comparable period (Q4 2018: 751,448). 3,580,551 ore tonnes treated during FY 2019, a 12% increase from comparable period (FY 2018: 3,194,360).
•1,977,438 carats recovered during the quarter at an average grade of 2.11 carats per tonne, 28% higher than comparable quarter (Q4 2018: 1,545,786 carats at 2.06). 6,820,631 carats recovered during FY 2019 at an average grade of 1.90 carats per tonne, 2% slightly lower than comparable period (FY 2018: 6,936,894).