Rockwell sparkles on crop of quality diamonds

ROCKWELL Diamonds increased revenue from diamonds sales in the first quarter of its 2014 financial year on the back of better quality diamonds.

Rockwell said diamond sales revenue, excluding income generated from sales of cut and polished stones and those from contractors, had risen by 31%.
Rockwell recently sold its Klipdam mine and mothballed its Tirisano mine near Ventersdorp at the end of 2012. It has allowed contract miners to operate at Tirisano, paying it a royalty.
The Toronto- and Johannesburg-listed company said its sales revenue had improved despite not having diamonds from the two mines. It improved revenue to $6.6m in the three months to end-May from $5m in the same period a year earlier.
It realised an average price of $2,018 a carat for the 3,257 carats it sold compared with $962 a carat a year earlier.
The number of carats from its owns operations fell 38% from 5,229 carats because of the switch in focus to its mines in the Middle Orange River area.
"The sale of several large, high-valued diamonds recovered in this region contributed to the 109% increase in average price per carat from a year ago," the company said.
"As the operations at Saxendrift Hill Complex and Niewejaarskraal — currently in commissioning — are established and reach their nameplate capacity, we are positioned to make up the sales shortfall from Tirisano and Klipdam," Rockwell CEO James Campbell said.