Rockwell Diamonds Reports Record Q3 Revenue

Mining Weekly said that Rockwell Diamonds Inc. (TSX:RDI,JSE:RDI) reported record diamond sales revenue of $15.8 million for the fiscal third quarter ended November 30, boosted by a 127-percent increase in carats sold. The record revenue was registered despite a 22-percent drop in grade, compounded by a 35-percent slide in realized prices.

As quoted in the press release:

The Vancouver-headquartered miner said prices during the period were impacted as a result of recovering fewer large precious gems from its operations located in South Africa’s Middle Orange River (MOR) region.

Rockwell, which has shares listed on the TSX and the JSE, said it had managed to lift the mined gravel volumes at its Saxendrift operation by 62% year-over-year, to average 180 000 m³ in the three months.

President and CEO James Campbell stated:

Our production and sales performance continues to improve with record volumes of both gravel mined and processed and carat sales from the MOR in the third quarter. A highlight for the quarter was bedding down of the earthmoving vehicle renewal plan and ongoing optimisation of our in-field screens that helped us post a 60% increase in mining volumes and 47% increase in gravel processed. The increase in volumes processed offset the lower grades and lower prices achieved for the rough product.

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