28th Aug 2014 12:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - DiamondCorp PLC said Thursday it had moved closer to its goal of commencing long-life underground kimberlite mining at its Lace mine during the half-year to the end of June.
The Africa-focused diamond mine development and exploration company posted a pretax loss of GBP2.7 million, widened from GBP2.2 million in the previous year, despite seeing operating expenses fall, as it posted a GBP1.6 million fair value adjustment on the derivative component of convertible bonds.
The company adopted a revised development budget and schedule during the half-year, which it said allows underground kimberlite mining to begin from the high-grade Upper K4 block in the first-half of 2015, six months ahead of schedule.
It will fund this development from its existing project finance facilities, it said.
Diamond recoveries from tailings at Lace totalled 13,055 carats at an average recovered grade of 5.78 carats per hundred tonnes, said DiamondCorp. Diamond sales for the period were a total of 14,583 carats at an average USD62 per carat, totalling USD907,308 before selling costs.
After the period end a 15.2 carat white octahedral diamond was recovered, it said.
The company raised GBP2.1 million to cover corporate overheads in April.
"Our constant attention to mining and development costs, and emphasis on diamonds recovered rather than tonnes throughput, positions us well to generate outstanding returns for our shareholders when mining commences from the UK4 Block in the first half of 2015," the company said in a statement.
Shares in DiamondCorp were trading down 1.1% at 7.05 pence Thursday.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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