Diamond production at Rio Tinto’s 78 percent-owned Murowa Mine, in Zimbabwe fell about 30 percent year on year to 56,000 carats during the second quarter of 2012.
The mine, which was a target of the Zimbabwean government’s indigenisation drive, produced 80 000 carats during the same period last year.
It also recorded an output of 66,000 carats during the first quarter of the year.
Figures released by Rio Tinto showed that the mine produced 123,000 carats during the first half of the year when compared to 185,100 carats recorded during the same period in 2011.
Meanwhile, the miner, which also mines diamonds in Australia and Canada, said that its overall diamond production during the second quarter went up by 3 percent year on year to 2.808 million carats.
Argyle mine produced 1.677 million carats while Diavik recorded an output of 1.075 million carats.
Group production also leaped 18 percent year on year to 6.167 million carats during the first half of 2012.
Rio Tinto, which said last March that it was considering divesting from its diamond business, was targeting a full year production of 14.6 million carats, an increase of 25 percent from 2011.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
