The diamond values at Canada's Gahcho Kue Project have jumped following an independent valuation by WWW International Diamond Consultants conducted at the London offices of the Diamond Trading Company in April, Mountain Province Diamonds has announced.

WWW examined a parcel of 8,317.29 carats of diamonds from the 5034, Hearne, and Tuzo kimberlite pipes. The Tuzo stones were assessed at the highest per-carat value ($315), followed by the Centre/East lobe of the 5034 pipe ($280/carat) and the West lobe of the 5034 pipe ($108). The average per-carat price for the entire parcel was $185, 38% higher than the valuation conducted in April 2010.

The single most valuable diamond came from the Tuzo sample – a 25.13 carat stone with a color grade of H/I. WWW assigned it a per-carat value of $20,000, bringing the stone's total worth to $502,600. The diamond with the highest value per carat sample was a 9.90-carat stone of D/E color, which WWW valued at $24,000 per carat - a total value of $237,600."



”Besides the high-value 25.13 and 9.9 carat diamonds referred to above, several other large high-value diamonds of gem quality have been recovered from Gahcho Kue, including 7.0 carat, 6.6 carat and 5.9 carat diamonds from the 5034 kimberlite and 8.7 carat, 6.4 carat and 4.9 carat diamonds from the Hearne kimberlite," Mountain Province President and CEO Patrick Evans noted.



Evans said that this most recent valuation of Gahcho Kue diamonds reflected the "strong performance of rough diamond prices since the previous valuation. Based on the analysis of leading diamond producers and analysts, the global diamond industry will experience peak diamond supply during 2011, with burgeoning demand - particularly from the robust Chinese and Indian markets - outstripping mine supply," Evans said.