Gem Diamonds’ Q4 ‘Encouraging End to Positive Year’
January 27, 15
Image: Gem Diamonds
(IDEX Online News) – Gem Diamonds Limited reported today (Tuesday) that the fourth quarter of 2014, October 1 to December 31, saw an “encouraging end to a very positive year.”
The company said that the Letšeng mine in Lesotho has continued to perform strongly, despite a drop in the amount of diamonds being recovered from the mine - 25,525 carats during the quarter compared to 28,365 carats in Q3.
The December tender of goods from Letšeng achieved an average of $2,799 per carat (p/c), resulting in an average value of $2,140 p/c being achieved compared to $2,603 p/c in the third quarter of the year. This result brought the average for 2014 to $2,540 p/c compared to $2,043 per carat in 2013.
Thirteen rough diamonds exceeded $1 million each during the quarter, including a 112.6-carat white diamond and a 90.4-carat white diamond that sold for $5.8 million and $4.2 million, respectively.
A 299.3-carat yellow diamond was recovered and extracted at rough valuation during the quarter and was sold into a partnership arrangement this month with Letšeng to share in 50 percent of the polished uplift.
At Ghaghoo a total of 10 167 carats were recovered during commissioning, including a 20-carat white diamond, a 17-carat white diamond and a 3-carat orange diamond, which the company said confirms the presence of valuable colored diamonds in the orebody.
A 35-carat diamond was recently recovered from the mine, which is the largest diamond found at Ghaghoo to date.
Gem Diamonds is planning to hold an initial sale of about 10,000 carats in Gaborone and Antwerp during January and February 2015.
“At Letšeng, a year of solid operational performance saw an improvement over the prior year’s production results, with costs well controlled, said Gem Diamonds’ CEO Clifford Elphick.
“Both the implementation of the Plant 2 Phase 1 upgrade and the new Coarse Recovery Plant projects remain on track for commissioning in Q1 and Q2 of 2015 respectively – on time and budget.”
He added that at Ghaghoo the development of Phase 1 has progressed well and significant work was undertaken to arrest the fissure water intersected in the basalt country rock and to ensure that any further water ingress is handled efficiently. The production ramp-up has begun and the first sale of diamonds recovered from commissioning will take place in February.
“Based on the positive results achieved in 2014, Gem Diamonds remains on track to declare a maiden dividend to shareholders following the 2014 full year results announcement in March 2015," he said.