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Water recovery issues hamper diamond sales

Water recovery issues and a shorter timeframe between tenders resulted in lower proceeds but Diamcor Mining (CN:DMI) received a higher average price per carat at its latest rough diamond tender.

Staff reporter
 Rough diamonds from Krone-Endora

Rough diamonds from Krone-Endora

The Canadian-based company said it had sold 4,353.91 carats of rough diamonds, which were recovered before November 9 from its Krone-Endora at Venetia project in South Africa, for gross proceeds of US$864,546, an average $198.57/ct.

This compares with 7,771.13 carats sold for $1.3 million in the September quarter at an average price of $171.70/ct.

The company said the higher average price was partly due to the quality of the 25.02 carat rough diamond sold, one of three individual rough diamonds tendered in the specials (+10.8ct) category.

"Insufficient recoveries of water from the project's settling dams continues to be the key factor limiting the company's ability to operate the project's plants at their designed capacities, and the company remains confident that the previously announced installation of a paste thickening plant will correct this issue once installed," Diamcor said.

It said the recovery of all rough diamonds to date were incidental to the ongoing commissioning process.

Diamcor acquired the Krone-Endora project from De Beers in 2011 and established a strategic alliance with Tiffany & Co Canada the same year, providing first right of refusal to the luxury retailer in exchange for financing.

Diamcor generated US$4.47 million revenue from the sale of 32,627.97 carats of rough diamonds at an average price of $136.89/ct in the year to March 31.

Shares in the company, which are down about 60% for the year, rose 5.6% yesterday to C47c.

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