Rockwell Sees Improvement in Rough Diamond Prices

Rockwell Diamonds Inc, a mining firm with four diamond mines in South Africa, noted a sharp improvement in prices of diamonds over the past few months. While the company achieved an average of $531 per carat in March, by late July it sold its goods at an average of $1,225 p/c.

The sales included a combination of tenders, direct selling of select goods, sales to the South African State Diamond Trader and income from special stones sold to the Steinmetz Diamond Group.

In May, June and early July, sales averaged $585 p/c, $700 p/c and $722 p/c respectively.

The late July diamond sales included 7 stones in the 10 - 20 carat range, 3 stones in the 20 - 30 carat range, 1 stone in the 30 - 40 carats range and a D color 40 carat flat stone with inclusions in the surface which sold for $15,200 p/c.

A 21.69-carat internally flawless, E color diamond achieved $17,400 p/c.

According to the company, sales prices in late July showed an approximate 10 percent increase over the previous period for diamonds of 0.75 carats and below. Prices of diamonds weighing 0.75-2.49 carat increased approximately 5 percent, whereas 2.50-4.79 carat stones achieved similar prices to the previous sale for better quality goods.

Spotted diamonds (stones with a large number of inclusions) achieved far lower prices than in the previous sales period.