28th Jan 2014 10:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - Gem Diamonds Ltd Tuesday said it has achieved an 83% revenue increase in the fourth quarter 2013 at its 70%-owned Letseng Diamonds Ltd site in Lesotho, but revealed that an employee has died at its Ghaghoo Mine in Botswana.
The high-value diamond producer with operations in Lesotho and Botswana said it achieved a total value of USD75.6 million for diamonds in the three months, an 83% increase on USD41.3 million the previous year.
The company increased recovery during the period by 7% to 27,227 carats compared form the previous quarter and sold 46% more carats than the previous quarter with 29,825 carats sold.
Gem Diamonds noted that the average value per carat increased by 25% to USD2,533 per carat, bringing its full year 2013 average to USD2,043 per carat.
The company said that in October it sold a 12.47 carat blue diamond for USD7.5 million, and in December a 78.69 carat white diamond sold for USD5.2 million.
Gem Diamonds said that it expects to recover 90,000 to 95,000 carats and sell 94,00 to 99,000 carats from the Letseng site in 2014.
However, the company also said that a ground-fall accident at its Ghaghoo mine in Botswana has led to the death of one of its employees, Segolame Mashumba.
Gem Diamonds said the inspector of mines has conducted an inquiry into the incident and has granted a resumption of mining operations at the site.
The company expects commercial production at the site to start in the early second half of 2014.
Gem Diamonds shares were up 3.9% to 159.00 pence Tuesday.
By Tom McIvor; [email protected]; @TomMcIvor1
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