| Wed 30 Jun 2010, 9:54 | | RDI - ROCKWELL - Year to date Diamond sales and recovery of 66 124 And 143 |
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RDI
RDI
RDI - ROCKWELL - Year to date Diamond sales and recovery of 66, 124 And 143
Karat Stones
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 RECOVERS 66 CARAT STONE FROM HOLPAN, 124 AND 145 KARAT STONES FROM
SAXENDRIFT AND PRESENTS YEAR TO DATE DIAMOND SALES INFORMATION
June 29, 2010, Vancouver, BC - Rockwell Diamonds Inc. ("Rockwell" or the
"Company") (TSXV: RDI; JSE: RDI; OTCBB: RDIAF) reports details of large
stones recovered from its Holpan and Saxendrift operations, as well as 2010
calendar year to date rough diamond sales.
Rockwell currently operates the Holpan and Klipdam mines north of Kimberley,
and the Saxendift mine on the Middle Orange River ("MOR") southwest of
Kimberley. The Wouterspan mine, also located on the MOR, is currently on
care and maintenance. All of these operations are located in the Northern
Cape Province of South Africa.
LARGE DIAMONDS OF OVER 50 CARATS
During April and May 2010, Rockwell recovered three large gemstone diamonds
from its Holpan and Saxendrift operations.
A 66-carat stone clean white (colour E to F) elongated and slightly flattened
stone with minor inclusions was recovered from the Holpan operation during
April 2010.
At Saxendrift, stones of 124 and 145 carats were recovered during May 2010.
- The 124-carat stone is F to G in colour, blocky and resorbed in shape and
appearance, and has a line of inclusion set along an internal flaw.
- The 145-carat Saxendrift stone is a light yellow ("Cape"), with rounded
octahedral shape and inclusions.
These large stones have been sold into Rockwell`s joint venture agreement
with Steinmetz Diamond Group ("SDG") and, once manufactured and sold as
polished goods, will provide additional profit share revenue to the Company.
YEAR TO DATE DIAMOND SALES
Results of Rockwell calendar year to date diamond sales are presented below.
These sales and revenues have come from a combination of tenders, sale of
special stones into the Company`s joint venture beneficiation and profit
share arrangement with SDG and sales to the South African State Diamond
Trader. In its most recent diamond sale, the Company achieved an average of
US$1,735 per carat which was achieved from the sale of 3,034.30 carats. The
year to date average for Rockwell diamond production is about US$1,216 per
carat which is 19% below Rockwell`s long term average of US$1,500 per carat.
During the year to date, the Company has also received approximately US$1.27
million as its portion of profit share from stones that have been
beneficiated in terms of Rockwell`s agreement with SDG. This profit share
has been derived from stones sold into the SDG beneficiation agreement in
November 2009 and February 2010. The Company has a large number of +10 carat
stones currently undergoing beneficiation and sales with SDG and expects to
achieve a regular income flow from this source during fiscal 2011.
Rockwell has also had three tender sales so far in calendar 2010 during the
months of February, April and May. Average results from total sales for each
operation are tabulated below, followed by results for each sale.
Mine Carats Revenue US$ US$/carat
Holpan 3,438,09 $3,737,203.83 $1,087
Klipdam 4,824.02 $2,547,082.56 $528
Saxendrift 4,960.58 $9,782,263.76 $1,972
GRAND TOTAL 13,222.69 $16,066,550.15 $1,216
FEBRUARY 2010 DIAMOND SALE
During February, Rockwell sold some 5,887.57 carats, including 70 stones of
larger than 10 carats in size. The average price achieved for this sale was
US$1,154 per carat. Details of the sales prices achieved for the different
operations are shown in the table below.
Mine Carats Revenue US$ US$/carat
Holpan 1183.27 $1,114,640.34 $942
Klipdam 2315.05 $1,264,017.30 $546
Saxendrift 2497.70 $4,490,864.46 $1,798
TOTALS 5,996.02 $6,919,407,08 $1,154
APRIL 2010 DIAMOND SALE
In April, the Company undertook a sale of 3,592.40 carats, including 31
stones of larger than 10 carats. The smaller average stone size of this
parcel and fewer stones of +10 carats in comparison to the February and May
parcels resulted in a lower overall average price per carat achieved for this
production parcel.
Mine Carats Revenue US$ US$/carat
Holpan 1,435.20 $1,077,835.20 $751
Klipdam 1,217.54 $525,977.28 $432
Saxendrift 1,539.63 $2,053,550.82 $1,513
TOTALS 4,192.37 $3,933,272.67 $938
MAY 2010 DIAMOND SALE
In late May, Rockwell sold a parcel of 3,034.30 carats, including 24 stones
of larger than 10 carats. A stone of 66 carats from Holpan and two stones
larger than 100 carats from Saxendrift were included in this sale. The
average price achieved for this sale was US$1,735 per carat.
Project Carats Revenue US$ US$/carat
Holpan 819.62 $1,545,803.32 $1,885
Klipdam 1,291.43 $759,360.84 $587
Saxendrift 923.25 $2,959,016.25 $3,204
TOTAL 3,034.30 $5,264,510.50 $1,735
ROCKWELL PRODUCTION PROFILE AND LARGE DIAMONDS
Overall, the diamonds recovered and sold by Rockwell in 2010 has been in line
with the Company`s predicted production profile, and is characterized by a
high proportion of diamonds of larger than 2 carats in size, and regular
recovery of stones of larger than 50 and 100 carats.
In the year to date, Rockwell has recovered 125 stones of larger than 10
carats in size. This included the 66-carat stone from Holpan, and two
gemstones of over 100 carats from Saxendrift. A 100-carat boart or
industrial stone was also recovered from Klipdam. The average price for
Klipdam production is currently below the budgeted value though this is not
uncommon in low grade alluvial deposits of this nature where overall diamond
quality is typically variable in nature. Recently, there has been
improvement in the quality of stones recovered at Klipdam. Although the 100-
carat stone recovered from this mine was a boart, it indicates the ongoing
presence of large stones in this deposit. The largest stone recovered from
this deposit by Rockwell was a 189.6 carat white gemstone in late 2008.
Polished Diamond Sales
Polished diamond prices have an impact of rough diamond sales and have shown
steady improvement in 2010 so far, which is encouraging for Rockwell and the
industry overall. According to IDEX Online Research reports, global polished
diamond prices have continued to recover in May, extending a trend that began
in the last quarter of calendar 2009. The IDEX index for polished sales
stood at an average of 116.5 for the month of May 2010, representing a 7.1
percent increase over a year ago, and a 1.6 percent rise over the average
price for April 2010.
President and CEO John Bristow commented, "The Company is encouraged by the
strength and resilience of the rough diamond market through the first six
months of 2010 and the improvement in prices in almost all categories of
Rockwell`s production. The firming of polished prices is equally positive
for the market. Although we anticipate a normal seasonal slowdown in sales
during the forthcoming European and North American summer vacations, we
expect the market to show some further strengthening in the later part of the
year in the lead up to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays in 2010. "
For further information on Rockwell and its operations in South Africa,
please 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
Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains certain
"forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities
law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as
"plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate"
and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions
"may" or "will" occur. 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.
Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include uncertainties and costs related to
exploration and development activities, such as those related to determining
whether mineral resources exist on a property; uncertainties related to
expected production rates, timing of production and cash and total costs of
production and milling; uncertainties related to the ability to obtain
necessary licenses, permits, electricity, surface rights and title for
development projects; operating and technical difficulties in connection with
mining development activities; uncertainties related to the accuracy of our
mineral resource estimates and our estimates of future production and future
cash and total costs of production and diminishing quantities or grades if
mineral resources; uncertainties related to unexpected judicial or regulatory
procedures or changes in, and the effects of, the laws, regulations and
government policies affecting our mining operations; changes in general
economic conditions, the financial markets and the demand and market price
for mineral commodities such and diesel fuel, steel, concrete, electricity,
and other forms of energy, mining equipment, and fluctuations in exchange
rates, particularly with respect to the value of the US dollar, Canadian
dollar and South African Rand; changes in accounting policies and methods
that we use to report our financial condition, including uncertainties
associated with critical accounting assumptions and estimates; environmental
issues and liabilities associated with mining and processing; geopolitical
uncertainty and political and economic instability in countries in which we
operate; and labour strikes, work stoppages, or other interruptions to, or
difficulties in, the employment of labour in markets in which we operate our
mines, or environmental hazards, industrial accidents or other events or
occurrences, including third party interference that interrupt operation of
our mines or development projects.
For further 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
30 June 2010
Sponsor
Sasfin Capital (a division of Sasfin Bank Limited)
Date: 30/06/2010 09:54:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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