Diamond company Mountain Province announced that it was endeavoring to ensure that the company’s Gahcho Kue diamond mine meets Canadian environmental standards and that excellent progress has been made in this regard, the Sacramento Bee reports.



The Gahcho Kue project will submit a technical report by October 22 of this year, and the public hearing by the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board will take place between December 4 and 7. Mountain Province president and chief executive officer Patrick Evans noted with satisfaction the timely efforts to bring the mining operations in line with what he called the highest possible social and environmental standards.



Gahcho Kue, the fourth diamond mine in Canada's Northwest Territories, is jointly owned by Mountain, which holds a 49% stake in the project, and De Beers Canada, which owns the remaining 51%. A feasibility study conducted by Mountain a year and eight months ago concluded that the mine has a probable mineral reserve of approximately 49 million carats of diamonds.