Rockwell Gets $10 mln for 189.68 ct Stone, Warns Q2 Earnings Flat
October 10, 08
Rockwell Diamonds said it made $10.3 million on a 189.68 carats D color diamond recovered from the Klipdam mine in September.
Concurrently with the sale of the $54,255 per carat diamond, Rockwell made $4.9 million from the sale of 3,945,84 carats of run-of-mine production from its Wouterspan, Holpan, Klipdam and Saxendrift operations, it said in a statement.
The company earned total revenue of $15.2 million or $3,680 per carat from its latest diamond sale. Its average sale price for the first two quarters of fiscal 2009 now stands at $2,491 per carat.
"This exceptional sales price is most encouraging especially in the context of the turbulence in international capital markets and indications that this is impacting on world diamond prices,” president and chief executive John Bristow said.
He noted that the company achieved strong production results at operating costs which were far lower than those experienced during their previous quarter.
“Our strong September production reflects the positive resolution of the industrial action and is testament to our focus on across the board mining and production improvements to ensure sustainable long-term cost savings and reduced unit costs,” Bristow said.
“The strong decline in oil prices and declining steel prices should provide further benefit to the Company is terms of lower operating costs," he added.
In a separate statement Rockwell warned shareholders that earnings for the three-month period ending August 31, 2008 are expected to be slightly lower than for the comparative quarter ended August 31, 2007.
Rockwell noted that the drop in earnings is as a direct result of the loss on sale of the Minero Rocardo property. “As a result of the amount of shares outstanding the move on earnings per share shows 0 percent when rounded to two decimal places and is considered to be negligible,” Rockwell said in the statement.
Rockwell owns four alluvial, or river-bed, diamond projects and properties in South Africa, including Holpan, Klipdam, Saxendrift, and Wouterspan, and an alluvial project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.