Rockwell Diamonds in Q3 loss

Rockwell Diamonds has recorded a loss of C$2.1 million ($2.1 million) during the third quarter of the fiscal year (FY) 2012.
It said in a statement that this included depreciation and depletion of mineral property interest of C$1.8 million ($1.8 million).
Rockwell said mining costs had also increased compared to the second quarter of FY 2012. “This was mainly due to the inclusion of costs relating to the Tirisano mine for the first time and given that it was still in its ramp up phase, operating profitability was negatively affected,” it said.
It said output at its Tirisano, Klipdam and Saxendrift operations, in South Africa had dropped 37 percent to 5,334 carats during the period under review when compared with 8,404 carats recorded during the corresponding period last fiscal year.
“While the loss of production volumes due to the closure of operations at Holpan had an impact, this was dampened by Tirisano which began ramping-up production from mid-October in 2011,” Rockwell said.
The miner said volumes declined by 12 percent at Saxendrift production, while the grade increased by 42 percent yielding 1,933 carats for the three months to November 2011.
Klipdam, it said, achieved its budgeted recoveries in November 2011, but overall recoveries and quality were below expectations, adding that decisive action had been taken to remediate this situation.
Meanwhile, Rockwell said 5,376 carats were sold at an average price of $1,109 per carat during the period under review.
It said its beneficiation profit share from the joint venture with the Steinmetz Group grew to C$2.3 million ($2.3 million) from C$0.9 million ($884 000) last year.
Rockwell also said that a diamond inventory of 1,866 carats had been accumulated at the end of the third quarter to benefit from the higher demand during the anticipated peak sales period from January to March 2012.

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished