Vancouver-based Rockwell Diamonds (
TSX:T.RDI,
Stock Forum) has discovered a 287-carat commercial colour stone at its Middle Orange River concern, according to a
company news release, making that the fifth large stone pulled from the project in the last three months and only the second 200-carat-plus stone found by the company in the last eight years.
Rockwell President and CEO James Campbell said the diamond is “one of the largest stones produced in the Middle Orange in recent times.”
“The stone was recovered from the Saxendrift Extension property acquired in March 2012 and follows the recovery of four plus 100-carat diamonds in September 2013. These results show that our plants are correctly geared for the recovery of large diamonds that characterize the Middle Orange River region.”
He added, “This is also a strong validation of our strategy to grow our alluvial production volumes to 500,000m
3 per month in order to produce large stones more regularly and improve Rockwell's quarterly earnings performance."
Lucara Diamond Corp (
TSX:T.LUC,
Stock Forum) recently found a
256-carat diamond that was sold through tender this month for $4.4 million, with a cleaner 137-carat stone selling for $4.28 million. That company has produced 16 100-carat-plus diamonds since March.
Rockwell has three existing diamond operations and two development projects and says it is evaluating merger and acquisition opportunities.
Rockwell stock was largely unchanged on the news.