JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE- and TSX-listed Rockwell Diamonds on Monday reported lower production of 3 854 ct for the fourth quarter of the 2013 financial year ended February 28, on the back of lower processed volumes and the placement of the Tirisano mine on care and maintenance in December.
Production was down 5% on the 4 043 ct produced in the fourth quarter of the previous financial year.
In contrast, the Saxendrift operations delivered a 36% year-on-year increase in carat production to 1 929 ct for the quarter, despite a 5% decline in the volume of processed gravel.
However, despite a 44% increase in the volume of gravel processed at Klipdam, carat recovery at the operation declined by 45%, from 2 048 ct in the fourth quarter of 2012, to 1 133 ct in the quarter under review, which management said underscored its decision to accept an unsolicited offer in March to sell the mine.
Rockwell further asserted that the cessation of operations at Tirisano, as well as the sale of Klipdam, represented the miner’s strategy of realigning itself as a value diamond play with a Middle Orange River focus.
“Having eliminated the negative impacts of our problematic mines, Tirisano and Klipdam, and expanding our Middle Orange properties, we are on a sounder footing, and will increasingly focus our efforts and capital resources towards delivery of our Middle Orange River properties and their potential to produce large, high-quality diamonds,” Rockwell CEO James Campbell commented.