Firestone Diamonds announced that in its first six months of full-scale production ended December 31, its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho recovered 379,716 carats of diamonds, Mining Weekly reports.
Commercial production at the mine had started on July 1, and the company raked in $26 million in gross proceeds for the six month period, but posted a loss of $7.8 million. The company had a cash balance of $29.7 million as at December 31.
CEO Stuart Brown said in a statement: “Since commencement of the mining operations in late 2016, a combination of lower-than-expected average diamond values realised at sale, and earlier waste stripping prompted a revision of the original 15-year mine plan […] we have seen a very encouraging start to 2018 for the rough market, with our first sale of the calendar year realising an average value of $82/carat”.
