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Gem Diamonds' Letšeng Sales Leap
May 17, 2016 9:56 AM
By Rapaport News
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RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds reported revenue from its Letšeng mine in
Lesotho rose in the first three tenders of the year.
Sales jumped
13 percent to $87.8 million compared with the first three tenders last year.
Volume sold surged 26 percent to 45,311 carats, outweighing a 10 percent drop
in the average price to $1,938 per carat versus $2,157 a year ago.
Clifford
Elphick, Gem Diamonds’ chief executive officer, said prices of rough gems from
Letšeng – which is known for its large and high-quality diamonds – have
“remained steady.” The company nevertheless highlighted the market’s cautious
approach to buying both rough and polished, driven by a retail slowdown in
China, a strong U.S. dollar and reports of continued high levels of polished
inventory.
Production
from Letšeng soared 28 percent to 28,698 carats in the first quarter.
Output from
the company’s Ghaghoo mine in Botswana fell 5 percent to 11,029 carats after
the miner said in February it considered it “prudent” to scale back the
operation as average selling prices fell. Elphick said the downsizing of the
operation is “advanced.”
Gem Diamonds
nonetheless sold a parcel of 14,114 carats from Ghaghoo for $2.3 million in the
quarter, or $160 per carat, 7 percent above the previous price achieved in
December 2015.
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Tags:
Gem Diamonds, Ghaghoo, Ghaghoo Mine, Lesotho, Letšeng, Letšeng mine, mining, Rapaport News, Rough Production, rough sales, rough tenders
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