Revenue jumped to $9.3 million in the three months that
ended May 31, while sales by volume jumped 11 percent to 5,191 carats. The average price soared
26 percent to $1,801 per carat.
The company unveiled a raft of
restructuring
measures in January, including closing its Johannesburg headquarters and
ending operations at its Saxendrift mine in South Africa, which it now says will
be wound down by August. Diamond sales
plummeted 34 percent during the fiscal
year to February 29 and the miner's loss doubled.
“Our performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 is
reflecting the effects of the improvements that we have been implementing,
following the strategic interventions of late fiscal 2016,” said James
Campbell, Rockwell’s chief executive officer and president
(pictured).
“Productivity has been enhanced on our operations with the
result of improved diamond recoveries and diamond values.”