Gem Diamonds sees production up but sales down at Letseng

16th Apr 2012 07:28

Gem Diamonds has seen the value of sales from its biggest mine fall in the first three months of the year but production has risen.The total number of carats sold at the Letseng mine in southern Africa fell 3% compared to the same period of 2011 but the value of those sales fell by 38% to $58.7m compared to the $94.3m achieved in 2011. The company says this figure arose from comparison to a period last year when "a number of exceptional fancy coloured and white diamonds were recovered and sold." Gem also argues ore bodies (the parts of the ground from which diamonds are extracted) always demonstrate "natural variability".On the plus side for Gem the amount of diamonds (or carats) recovered at Letseng rose 5.9% over the quarter, while the quality or "grade" of production was over 10% better than the equivalent period of 2011Gem's other big site, at the Ellendale mine in Australia, saw sales up by 46.4% on the corresponding period of 2011 at $24.3m, while the amount achieved per carat more than doubled from $511 to $1,049. Carats recovered (in other words, production) increased by 24%.Gem's share price had gained 2.2% by 08:43 and has now risen 38% since the start of 2011.BS