Gem Diamonds Di Regulatory News (GEMD)

5 Nov 2007 07:04

Gem Diamonds Limited05 November 2007 5th November, 2007 GEM DIAMONDS LIMITED 493 CARAT WHITE DIAMOND NAMED THE "LETSENG LEGACY" Gem Diamonds Limited (LSE: GEMD) ("Gem Diamonds") and the Government of theKingdom of Lesotho are delighted to announce the 493 carat white diamondrecovered from the Letseng mine has been named "Letseng Legacy". The Letseng Legacy ranks as the world's 18th largest rough diamond and wasrecovered from the Letseng le Terai Mine in Lesotho on the 7th of September. The name reflects growing legacy that the Letseng le Terai Mine is creating as aproducer of remarkable diamonds. Letseng Diamonds, which is 70% owned by GemDiamonds and 30% owned by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, has nowproduced three of the world's top 20 diamonds. Two of these were recovered byGem Diamonds in the last 13 months - the 603 carat Lesotho Promise recovered inAugust 2006 and this 493 carat diamond. The 493 carat Letseng Legacy will be sold on tender in Antwerp by WWWInternational Diamond Consultants on Wednesday the 14th of November at aceremony attended by the Lesotho Minister of Natural Resources, the HonourableMinister Monyane Moleleki, and the Gem Diamonds directors. The Lesotho Promise, which was the 15th largest rough diamond, was sold ontender in October 2006 for US$12.4 million to Graff Jewellers. The collectionof polished diamonds from the Lesotho Promise is expected to sell for betweenUS$25-30 million. The Lesotho Brown diamond was recovered in 1961 and ranks asthe world's 16th largest diamond. It yielded 18 polished diamonds, the largestof which was recently re-acquired by the original buyer, jewellers HarryWinston. In January 2007, Letseng Diamonds also produced a 215 carat D-colour flawlessdiamond which subsequently sold on tender for US$8.3 million. The Letseng Mine hosts two kimberlites, the Main and Satellite Pipes, that havea combined diamond resource value of US$4.7 billion. It is renowned forproducing some of the world's largest diamonds which attract the highest averageprice per carat of any kimberlite mine. As reported in Gem Diamonds' InterimResults to end June 2007 released on the 13th September, the average price percarat achieved from the Letseng Satellite Pipe was US$1894 and US$1128 from theMain Pipe. This compares with the world average price of approximately US$81per carat. Gem Diamonds LimitedClifford ElphickTel: +44 203 043 0280 Gem Diamond Technical Services (Pty) LimitedAngela ParrTel: +27 83 578 3885 Pelham PRCandice SgroiTel: +44 207 743 6376 About Gem Diamonds Gem Diamonds is a diamond mining company with a balanced portfolio of aproducing kimberlite mine, two producing alluvial mines, development projectsand long-term prospects. Established in July 2005, Gem Diamonds is pursuing anaccelerated growth strategy and aims to become one of the world's leadingdiamond companies. Gem Diamonds currently has one producing kimberlite mine, Letseng, in Lesotho, two producing alluvial mines - Cempaka in Indonesia andMbelenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a kimberlite developmentproject in Botswana, two development projects in the DRC, one in the CentralAfrican Republic and an option to develop the Chiri kimberlite concession inAngola. The Company recently made an offer to Kimberley Diamond Company's shareholdersto acquire their shares in this company, which owns the Ellendale Mine in northWestern Australia, and which was approved by Gem Diamonds' shareholders at anExtraordinary General Meeting on 16 October 2007. Gem Diamonds currently has a specific focus towards higher value diamonds, asegment of the market that its management believes will deliver superior longterm returns. For further information about Gem Diamonds visit www.gemdiamonds.com . This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange