Gem Diamonds sales dropped 26% in 2023 to $139.4 million as weak demand for rough diamonds forced its average price to weaken.
The diamond junior sold 104 520 carats in 2023 from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, achieving an average price of $1 334 per carat, a drop of 24% compared to 107,498 carats sold in 2022 for $1 755 per carat.
The highest price achieved in the period was $ 33,745 per carat for a 117.09-carat white diamond that was sold for $4 million, it said.
It produced 32 142 carats in the fourth quarter of 2023, resulting in 109 656 carats recovered for the year from 106 704 carats a year earlier.
The diamond junior said that the ore treated in 2023 dropped to 5 million tonnes from the previous year’s 5.5 million tonnes mainly due to the expiry of the alluvial ventures' processing contract on June 30, 2022, which contributed 400 000 tonnes in that year.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, from Cape Town, South Africa, Rough&Polished
