RAPAPORT... Gem Diamonds has increased its production and sales outlook for
the year after robust output during the third quarter, it said Wednesday.
The miner now expects to recover 120,000 to 124,000 carats
from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho for the whole of 2018, compared with a forecast of 114,000
to 118,000 carats it provided in March. It also anticipates selling 118,000 to
122,000 carats, up from 112,000 to 116,000 carats.
The changes followed improvements in mining efficiencies and
grades during the quarter ending September 30, it explained. Production grew
16% year on year to 35,755 carats for the period, with the miner recovering two
stones larger than 100 carats.
Quarterly sales rose 16% to $55.7 million as a 17% jump in
sales volume to 30,275 carats outweighed a 1% decrease in the average price to
$1,841 per carat. It sold eight diamonds for more than $1 million each, with a
138.20-carat, type IIa rough fetching $60,428 per carat — the highest average
price for a Letšeng diamond during the quarter.
“The demand and prices for Letšeng’s large, high-quality
white rough diamonds has remained firm,” the company noted.
The company will spend $3 million on a plant at Letšeng that
uses new technology to identify and extract diamonds within kimberlite ore, it
added. The facility — which will start operating in the second quarter of 2019
— is part of a strategy to improve early detection of diamonds and reduce
breakages.
Image: Letšeng mine in Lesotho. (Gem Diamonds)
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