Gemstone producer and developer, Richland Resources (formerly TanzaniteOne) said its revenues for the first half of the year 2012 fell 19 percent to $8.4 million compared to $10.4 million in the previous corresponding period.
It said in a statement that the EBITDA for the period under review was $0.1 million, a huge decline when compared to $3.4 million in the previous corresponding period.
“The result for the period was heavily affected by reduced sales volume and quality mix, a direct result of loss of production optimisation due to increased illegal underground mining activities, and increased mining cost,” it said.
Meanwhile, production for the half year was 1.21 million carats, down 3 percent compared to the H1 2011.
It said the carats recovered were achieved with a 24 percent decrease in tonnes processed to 18,170 metric tonnes.
Company chief executive Bernard Olivier said Richland was working extremely hard to resolve the issues in Tanzania.
"The company is working with the Zonal Mines Office (part of the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Minerals), police and other government officials in an effort to counteract the illegal underground mining into its licenced areas and several police cases have been filed," he said.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
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