Gem Diamonds' First Big Recovery of 2024
January 11, 24
(IDEX Online) - Gem Diamonds has recovered a high quality 295 carat Type II white diamond from its Letseng mine in Lesotho.
It's the miner's first +100-ct diamond of 2024. Last year Gem recovered five, including two in October, weighing 117.47 carats and 110 carats.
But that's down on its long-term average of eight a year. In 2022 it recovered four.
Letseng, known as the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world, saw its revenue from rough sales fall by 19 per cent to $71.6m in the first half of 2023, partly because of fewer recoveries of high-value diamonds.
The mine is 70 per cent owned by Gem and 30 per cent by the Lesotho government.
Pic courtesy Gem Diamonds