100 carat diamond found at Letseng

This rough diamond‚ recovered on 22 June‚ is the third diamond over 100 carats to be recovered from the Letšeng mine in the past two months.

The recovery of a 164-carat D Colour Type IIa diamond‚ which was sold for US$9m and the recovery of a 103-carat yellow diamond‚ sold on tender‚ were both announced at the end of May.

Letšeng's June exports achieved an average price of US$2‚087 per carat‚ providing a total value of US$22m. "This compares with an average value of US$1‚599 per carat which was achieved for the first three tenders in the year‚" Gem said.

Providing an update on its projects‚ the company said four new secondary and tertiary crushers had been installed at Letšeng and were now working.

Mining had started as planned at the higher-value‚ higher-grade Satellite pipe. Gem said it expected the pipe to increase overall revenue through its contribution to mioning production for the rest of the year.

It said the development of its Ghaghoo mine in Botswana was continuing satisfactorily with the recovery plant 90% complete.

Tunnelling had started through the basalt rock‚ and Phase 1 would see the first kimberlite ore being mined by the middle of next year. This would result in planned production of 230‚000 carats of diamonds being mined at a rate of 720‚000 tons ore a year.