| Tue 1 Dec 2009, 15:30 | | RDI - Rockwell Achieves Us$1 434 Per Carat And Yields Of Additional Stones |
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RDI
RDI
RDI - Rockwell Achieves Us$1,434 Per Carat And Yields Of Additional Stones
Larger Than 50 Carats
ROCKWELL DIAMONDS INCORPORATED
(A company incorporated in accordance with the laws of British Columbia, Canada)
(Incorporation number BCO354545)
(Formerly Rockwell Ventures Inc.)
(South African registration number: 2007/031582/10)
Share code on the JSE Limited: RDI & ISIN: CA77434W1032
Share code on the TSX: RDI & CUSIP Number: 77434W103
Share code on the OTCBB: RDIAF
("Rockwell")
ROCKWELL ACHIEVES US$1,434 PER CARAT FOR LATEST DIAMOND SALE
SAXENDRIFT AND HOLPAN YIELD ADDITIONAL STONES LARGER THAN 50 CARATS
December 1, 2009 - Vancouver, B.C. - Rockwell Diamonds Inc ("Rockwell" or the
"Company") (TSX: RDI; JSE: RDI; OTCBB: RDIAF) announces the results of its
latest diamond sale and that additional large stones have been recovered from
its South African mining operations.
Rockwell is currently operating the Holpan and Klipdam mines located north of
Kimberley and the Saxendrift mine on the Middle Orange River ("MOR") southwest
of Kimberley. Wouterspan, located adjacent to Saxendrift but on the opposite
side of the MOR, remains on care and maintenance. All of these operations are
located in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
DIAMOND SALES PRICES INCREASE 20%
In the latest diamond sale concluded in mid-November, Rockwell achieved an
average price of US$1,434 per carat, representing an increase of about 20% over
the average price ($1,195 per carat) achieved in the latter part of July 2009.
The sale included production recovered from the Saxendrift, Holpan and Klipdam
mines.
Sales and revenues since the start of 2009 were derived from a combination of
tenders, direct selling of select goods to specialized manufacturers, sales to
the South African State Diamond Trader, and income from special stones
beneficiated under terms of Rockwell`s agreement with the Steinmetz Diamond
Group ("SDG").
Diamond Production includes large stone population
The mid-November diamond sales were from production during the period of August
to November 2009, and included the following stones:
- 39 stones in the 10-20 carat range
- 13 stones in the 20-30 carat range
- 7 stones in the 30-40 carat range
- 1 stone in the 50 -60 carat range
- 3 stones above 100 carats.
Rockwell has sold 63 of these high value large stones, which also includes three
coloured stones reported in a previous news release (November 12, 2009), to SDG
for beneficiation and marketing. A portion of the stones will be beneficiated
and a portion sold as rough stones. The Company expects to achieve additional
margin from the expert manufacturing and marketing skills of SDG, thereby
providing benefit to Rockwell and the local beneficiation industry.
NEW LARGE STONES
Rockwell has recovered three additional stones larger than 50 carats in size
since the beginning of November. These include a 60.8-carat rounded off-white
stone from Saxendrift and a 52.4-carat light yellow octahedral stone of
excellent clarity from Holpan.
DIAMOND MARKET IMPROVING
Rockwell has noted a general improvement in average prices of all goods. Demand
for rough stones in the 1 to 10 carat range remains strong, with the strongest
buying focused on the 2 to 5 carat market segment. Prices for 3 carat rough
stones have been extremely strong since March 2009. Goods larger than 10 carats
have also shown a slight firming in price, with top quality white and coloured
stones showing excellent prices. Goods of less than 1 carat, including lower
quality Indian goods characterized by a high proportion of inclusions and
imperfections, also showed some firming in price.
President and CEO John Bristow commented, "These results from the latest diamond
sales are most encouraging. We had some excellent coloured stones which helped
to increase the overall average price but also saw a general firming on prices
for our full run of mine production. Importantly, our overall average diamond
sales value for fiscal 2010 year to date is US$977 per carat, which is tracking
our breakeven point of about US$1,000 per carat. Management remains cautiously
optimistic about the diamond market. In light of the price improvements and
market resilience, we are reactivating our plans for the modernisation and re-
commissioning of the Wouterspan operation in the new year."
For further details on Rockwell Diamonds Inc., please visit the Company`s
website at www.rockwelldiamonds.com or contact Investor Services at (604) 684-
6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114.
John Bristow
President and CEO
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in
this news release.
Forward Looking Statements
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking
statements". Other than statements of historical fact all statements in this
release that address future production, reserve or resource potential,
exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that
each Company expects are forward-looking statements. Although the Company
believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those
in the forward-looking statements. There is no certainty of the financing
completing. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, changes in and the effect of government policies
regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, availability
of capital and financing, geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic
instability, and general economic, and market or business conditions. Investors
are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance
and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those
projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Rockwell,
Investors should review Rockwell`s annual Form 20-F filing with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission www.sec.com and the Company`s home
jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
Johannesburg
1 December 2009
Sponsor
Sasfin Capital (a division of Sasfin Bank Limited)
Date: 01/12/2009 15:30:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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