RAPAPORT... Firestone
Diamonds slightly surpassed its output target at the Liqhobong mine in Lesotho in
the first fiscal quarter that ended September 30.
The miner recovered 199,007 carats
during the July-to-September period, compared to 204,000 carats in the previous
quarter, it said in a statement Monday.
It sold 195,330 carats in the quarter, including Liqhobong’s
second $1 million-plus diamond, a 45-carat white stone. Firestone
also reported the recovery of a 134-carat, light-yellow diamond. This is the largest diamond recovered to date at
the mine, and will be included in the company’s next sale.
Firestone
has revised its mining plan and has opened talks with its lender after
recording disappointing prices at Liqhobong. The sales this quarter achieved an
average value of $69 per carat, yielding proceeds of $13.5
million. Since starting production in the
fourth quarter of 2016, Firestone has sold all 505,706 carats recovered,
for $41.3 million, at an average
value of $82 per carat.
“We have started
moving to other areas in the pit and as expected, we have seen the start of
some improvement in average value per carat recovered,” said Firestone CEO Stuart Brown. “Mining will progress into all areas of the pit
in time and it will be some while before more representative volumes of all the
ore types are mined and we can better establish our revised average value per
carat for planning purposes.”
Firestone started production at Liqhobong in October 2016, with the
first sale of rough taking place in February.
|