Rockwell Sales and Profits Decrease in Q3
January 17, 10
Rockwell Diamonds Inc. losses totaled $5.9 million for the nine months to end November 2009, compared to a loss of $1.4 million for the comparable period in the prior year, the alluvial miner stated Friday in its third quarter results.
Rockwell stated the weakening of diamond prices through the first two quarters of the 2010 financial year to have had an adverse affect on its business.
“Though prices remained weak during this period, there has been an overall improvement in prices of about 49% from the initial sharp fall in the last quarter of fiscal 2009,” Rockwell stated.
Rockwell reported profits of $514,000 in its fiscal third quarter, compared with $3.6 million a year earlier. The company also cited weak sales as the reason for the dramatic decrease.
During the nine months ended November 30, 2009, Rockwell posted rough diamond sales of $20 million compared to $30.4 million for the comparable period in the prior year. Rockwell sold 20,646.13 carats at an average price of $969.17 p/c, compared to 11,956.58 carats sold at 2,538.43 p/c in 2008.
Production, however, has increased at Rockwell’s mines. The company produced 19,920.44 carats from operations at Holpan/Klipdam, Wouterspan and Saxendrift during the nine months, a 20 percent increase from 16,558.09 carats in 2008.