African Diamonds' Losses Double, But Remains Optimistic

Explorer African Diamonds, which operates in Botswana, Sierra Leone and Guinea, said losses for the six months ended January 31 almost doubled to $117,000 from the year-earlier period as costs rose.

Operating costs for the firm more than doubled during the half-year period to $130,000.

Nonetheless, the company said it had enough money to finance current planned expenditure into next year, and reported a bright outlook both for its operations and the global demand for diamonds.

"While our focus is rightly on Botswana [where it is involved in a joint venture with De Beers], West Africa remains an important part of our portfolio," the explorer noted. "We have excellent ground in Sierra Leone and very promising indications in the form of big (5+ carat) stones of what might be there to be found."

African Diamonds said it has started small scale alluvial production in Guinea and is carrying out trail mining to evaluate diamond quality and recoveries.