Releasing its Trading Update for the quarter ended 30 September 2016, Gem Diamonds Ltd said that that it sold 37,990 carats for a total value of US$ 61.5 million at the three tenders conducted during Q3, achieving an average price of US$ 1,619 per carat. It added that this was lower than the average achieved in earlier quarters, bringing the average price achieved for year to date of this report is US$ 1,785 per carat.

The Company said that production at its 70% owned Letseng mine in Lesotho was affected by bad weather conditions in July and August and as a result there was a continued paucity of large high value diamonds (+100 cts) in this period. However, it added that the Letseng mine remains on track to achieve full year guidance.

During the quarter, 1,612,728 tonnes (1,711,336 tonnes in Q2 2016) of ore were treated at Letseng and 24,388 carats were recovered (28,682 carats in Q2 2016). Twelve diamonds achieved prices of over US$ 1.0 million each were sold for a total of US$ 24.5 million.

At the 100% owned Ghaghoo mine in Botswana, the focus on reducing costs and increasing production was achieved. During the quarter, 54,337 tonnes of ore were treated (up 21% from Q2 2016), while operating costs trended downwards. Gem Diamonds said there were encouraging recoveries of larger diamonds as mining moves into the undiluted portions of kimberlite ore, though given current market conditions for the types of diamonds discovered here, the on-going development of the mine in the near term, is under review.

The Group had US$ 44.1 million cash on hand as at 30 September 2016 (of which US$ 39.6 million is attributable to Gem Diamonds Limited) and US$ 53.2 million worth of undrawn and available facilities.