8th Feb 2016 10:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - Gemstones company Richland Resources Ltd, which has operations in Queensland, Australia, on Monday said it has seen success during its first full quarter of production, with 720,000 carats of sapphires produced in the three months ended December 31 and 52,266 tonnes of sapphire-bearing alluvials mined and processed.
An average grade of 14 carats per tonnes was achieved, the company said, with USD226,180 total revenue achieved from the sale of approximately 203,000 carats of lower quality sapphire and corundum. The average price per carat for lower quality sapphire and corundum was USD1.11.
The operational cash cost per carat was about USD1.0, including all operational costs but excluding depreciation, amortisation and corporate costs.
"During the last quarter of 2015, we not only surpassed our ramp-up production targets but we also achieved first revenue from the sales of our lower-quality material. We continue to ramp up operations at the Capricorn Sapphire mine as we establish a cost effective, advanced mining and sorting operation. We also managed to bring our total operational cash cost per carat down to approximately US$1 / carat during the quarter through ongoing stringent cost control," Chief Executive Bernard Olivier said.
The company has begun branding, marketing, treating, cutting and polishing of its higher quality material in preparation for its first sale of its higher quality sapphires. The sale is planned to occur during the first half of 2016, Richland said.
Shares in Richland were up 15% at 3.175 pence Monday morning.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
RLD.L