Rockwell Diamonds Inc. (TSX:RDI; JSE:RDI, OTCBB:RDIAF), a mid-tier diamond mining and development company has announced its financial results for the first six months ending August 31st 2009 of the first half of Fiscal 2010.
Rockwell Diamonds is an alluvial diamond mining company with three active alluvial operations at Holpan, Klipdam, and Saxendrift. Wouterspan, a fourth operating site is under care and maintenance.
The company has been focusing on reducing operational costs while increasing efficiency. As a result of the initiatives taken by the company, it has exceeded its target of 2,500 carats per month (From the three operating mines). It has also achieved an average operating cost of US$2.72 per tonne over six months. The overall average cost of all operations- including rehabilitation, hire purchase payments and royalties were US$ 4 per tonne.
The average price of diamonds sold by Rockwell was up by 54% to US$ 855 per carat during the quarter ending August 31st 2009 (Up from US$ 555per carat in the first quarter.
The Rockwell and Saxendrift operations continue to produce exceptional stones. A 40-carat clean white stone was discovered in the Saxendrift operation. A122-carat round octahedral stone of light yellow cape color ,a120-carat was irregularly rounded frosted stone and a 105-carat white diamond of high quality and excellent clarity.
Rockwell Diamonds has recently appointed Willem Jacobs and Richard Linnell to strengthen its audit committee and Board of Directors.
Due to the collapse in the diamond market, the company realized a loss of CA$ 6.6 million for the six month period ending August 31st 2009. The net loss for the same period last year was CA$ 3.1 million.
Rough diamond sales by the company during the six months ending August 31st 2009 was CA$ 9.7 million compared to CA$ 17 million during the same period last year.
Administrative costs for the six months ending August 31, 2009 decreased to $1.5 million in comparison to $1.8 million incurred in for the same period in the prior year, primarily due to controlling costs and reducing overheads