Richland Resources boosts revenue, output

Richland Resources, formerly known as Tanzanite One boosted its revenue in 2011 as it continues to target the Chinese market.
Despite a law in Tanzania that prohibits the exporting of rough tanzanite, weighing one gram and above, the company posted a 29 per cent increase in revenue to $20.5 million in the year ended 31 December 2011.
"2011 has seen a dedicated effort to educate the Chinese market on the attributes of tanzanite, especially within the smaller sizes and lighter colour range,” said the coloured gemstone producer’s chief executive Bernard Olivier.
"Our second year of profit is testimony to our continued margin enhancement programme and significantly enhanced production rates.”
Production also increased 9 per cent to 2.4 million from 2.2 million carats.
Richland was now targeting an output of 2.5 million carats for.
Net profit in the year ended 31 December 2011 increased 33 per cent to $0.8 million from $0.6 million.
Richland said the renewal of Richland’s wholly-owned subsidiary TanzaniteOne’s Special Mining License is an important focal point during 2012.
The renewal documents were submitted in January 2011.

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