(Alliance News) - Gem Diamonds Ltd on Thursday said it recovered more carats in its latest quarter and year, but that annual sales decreased along with average prices.
The London-based diamond miner, which has operations in Lesotho and Botswana, sold 104,520 carats in 2023 from its Letseng Mine in Lesotho. This was down 2.7% from 107,498 carats the year before.
Carats recovered increased 2.8% to 109,656 from 106,704.
The average price per carat decreased 24% to USD1,334 from USD1,755, which Gem Diamonds said negatively impacted its overall revenue for 2023.
Waste stripped decreased to 8.8 million tonnes from 10.2 million tonnes, while ore treated by the Letseng plants decreased to 5.0 million tonnes from 5.5 million.
Gem Diamonds said the reduction in total waste tonnes mined "had a positive impact on costs...remains in line with the optimised mine plan and ensures future availability of ore."
For the fourth quarter of 2023, carats recovered from Letseng increased 16% to 32,142 from 26,913 in the third quarter. Carats sold increased 16% to 28,402 from 23,955, although the diamonds' value decreased 2.2% to USD1,281 from USD1,310.
Waste stripped fell 54% quarter-on-quarter to 1.6 million tonnes from 2.4 million, while ore treated increased 7% to 1.3 million tonnes from 1.2 million tonnes.
Gem said the rise in ore treated and carats recovered was thanks to improved throughout rates at its processing plants, resulting in improved plant availability.
Shares in Gem Diamonds were trading 2.2% lower at 10.95 pence on Thursday in London.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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Gem Diamonds Di (GEMD)