(Ecofin Agency) - South African diamond mining company DiamondCorp sold, during 2016’s first quarter, 8,648 carat, the first sale at its Lace mine since 1931. From this, 6,247 carat has a diameter exceeding 1.25 mm. The firm sold them at $175/ct average, thus totaling $1.1 million. Remaining 2,401 carat come from residue production and has a diameter lower than 1.25 mm with an average sale price below $19/ct generating $46,000 as revenues.

The company stated that during the sales, two special stones: “a 22.1 carat diamond and another (purple type II stone) of 1.08 carat were sold respectively at $5000/ct and $6363/ct average. The 22.11 ct stone has been cut and polished into two stones – a 7.19 ct emerald shape diamond and a 0.85 ct pear shape diamond. The company will receive an additional 50% of the profit from these stones when the polished diamonds are sold,” said DiamondCorp CEO Paul Loudon. “We are extremely with the level of demand shown and the prices we achieved in all size categories. Overall sentiment in the diamond market remains relatively positive compared to the end of 2015, and the price increases seen in January are being maintained,” he added.

DiamondCorp Plc owns 74% of the project while its joint-venture partners, Shanduka Resources and Sphere Holdings each hold 13%. The firm recently estimated resources at Lace mine at 38.48 million tons at a depth of 920m. The Lace is being exploited and might achive a target production of 30,000t/month by July 2016.  

Louis-Nino Kansoun