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RAPAPORT... Rockwell Diamonds Inc. reported a profit of $345,000 in the first quarter that ended on May 31 compared with a loss of $1.2 million one year ago. Revenue rose 67 percent year on year to $15.1 million, with $9.7 million in direct diamond sales and an additional $5.4 million from its beneficiation partners.
As reported earlier, production jumped 90 percent to 9,162 carats, with 4,800 carats derived from the company's royalty mining contractors. Inventory at the close of the first quarter totaled 5,237 carats carried forward, including 2,271 carats on royalty mining contracts.
Following the news, Rockwell's share price jumped nearly 11 percent as of midday in Toronto to 41 cents. Rockwell's shares were trading at 17 cents one year ago.
James Campbell, the CEO of Rockwell Diamonds, said, "We are pleased to report that Rockwell showed a bottom-line net profit of $345,000 in the first quarter. This is a first, as well as a significant achievement after three years of rebuilding Rockwell. These results also represent the eighth successive quarter of dollar-denominated revenue growth, highlighting the consistent delivery against our plan, which saw our exit from loss-making operations and the resolution of a number of corporate legacy issues." Campbell reiterated the company's drive to produce higher-quality diamond, especially from its Middle Orange River project in South Africa. The average stone size produced from all properties increased 18 percent in the first quarter to 4.60 carats compared with 3.80 carats one year earlier. "We recovered four rough diamonds in the plus-50-carat category, the largest of which was a 103.80-carat high-intensity fancy-yellow stone. In addition, Rockwell produced 81 rough diamonds in the plus-10-carat category, compared with 44 stones in the prior year. In June, 2014, we processed record volume of gravel across company properties as our three Middle Orange River mines all processed higher volume due to higher equipment availability," he said.
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