JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Stellar Diamonds has conditionally raised some £600 000 to support various development initiatives at its Sierra Leone and Guinea operations and for general working capital.
The West Africa-focused diamond development company placed 4.4-million new ordinary shares at 10p apiece, while Stellar’s largest shareholder Deutsche Balaton agreed to subscribe for 1.6-million subscription shares at 10p each.
Deutsche Balaton would now hold an aggregate 8.5-million shares, growing its stake to 26.77% following the conclusion of the transaction.
The proceeds would be used to support the company’s Tongo mine licence application process in Sierra Leone, as well as complete the trial mining and diamond sales exercise and a maiden resource statement, targeting three-million carats, at the Guinea-based Baoulé project.
Stellar also announced the generation of nearly $300 000 from the sale of 3 291 ct in diamonds from the Baoulé project through an auction in Antwerp.
The average price achieved was $91.05/ct, a decline on the $156/ct achieved in the May 2015 sale, owing to a “different mix of goods” with a higher proportion of lower-quality stones, as well as a broadly weaker rough diamond market since mid-2015.
Despite this, at the recent auction, certain gemstones, mostly white gems and fancy coloured yellow gems, fetched prices between $1 000/ct and $4 600/ct.
Meanwhile, in line with Stellar’s ongoing corporate cost-cutting initiative and the rationalisation of the board, Liviu Meran and Dr Markus Elsässer have stepped down as nonexecutive directors, effective March 15.