Desmond loans diamond company another €33m

Mountain Province, the tycoon’s Canadian mining company, is in ‘serious financial difficulty’ due to Covid-19 interruptions

Dermot Desmond, right, owns 32 per cent of Mountain Province’s shares. Last year he struck a deal with the company to buy $100 million worth of its diamonds. Picture: Getty

Financier Dermot Desmond has stumped up another $33 million in loans to Mountain Province Diamonds, his Canadian diamond mining company, which is experiencing what it described as “serious financial difficulty”.

Mountain Province, like many diamond mining companies, has been struggling to sell its diamonds due to Covid-19 interruptions to both its mining operations and to diamond markets in Antwerp. It has relied heavily on financial support from Desmond in the last year.

Desmond has extended loans ...