Rockwell Posts 58% Jump In Total Carat Sales In Fiscal Q2

(IDEX Online News) – Rockwell Diamonds reported total carat sales surged 58 percent to 8,864 carats, sold at an average price of $1,489 per carat, down 2 percent from a year ago).

The miner, which has several operations in South Africa, posted a 57-percent jump in sales to $13.2 million.

Commenting on second quarter production and sales James Campbell, CEO and President said, "We are pleased that our second quarter production results reflect continued benefits flowing from our focus on the Middle Orange River region. Volumes of material mined are up 41 percent to 1.2 million m3, exceeding the one million cubic meter threshold per quarter for the first time. This is a clear demonstration that our three producing MOR (Middle Orange River) mines have gained critical mass and that the implementation of our managed mining strategy, including the EMV renewal plan, is delivering significantly higher EMV availabilities.

"Volumes of gravel processed, (excluding overburden and a small stockpile of gravels) increased 54 percent compared to the prior year, providing evidence that our processing plants have risen to the challenge of the higher mining volumes. Accordingly, we are well placed to show a sustainable reduction in unit costs. Carat production rose 6 percent from our own operations, due to higher volumes of ground processed, offset by lower grades, in the second quarter. These however, were in line with the typical cyclicality of alluvial mining and remained well within the long term average grades for the region.

"As our volumes have increased, so we have benefited from a higher average stone size, which was in excess of 4.5 carats in the second quarter. We produced two gem quality +100-carat diamonds in the second quarter which brings the total to eight +100 carat stones recovered from our operations in the last 12 months: another tangible indicator of the success of our focused MOR strategy. In addition, we recovered thirteen more stones in the +20-carat category, underpinning a 43 percent increase in carat sales from our own operations and leading to a 36 percent growth in revenue from diamond sales, excluding beneficiation of US$9.0 million.

"Our five royalty mining contractors at Tirisano continue to deliver positive returns for Rockwell. Second quarter, carat production and carat sales from these partners increased 66 percent and 70 percent respectively. Diamond values showed a 30 percent increase per carat, resulting in the value of sales from contractors rising by 121 percent to $4.2 million."