Firestone Diamonds, operations focused in Lesotho, provides its quarterly update on operations at its Liqhobong Diamond Mine for the quarter ended- 3Q 2018 FY Liqhobong is owned 75% by Firestone and 25% by the Government of Lesotho. According to the 3Q 2018 FY report,Firestone Diamonds have attained a solid operational performance despite challenging conditions & recoveries remained 6.6% higher than Q2 at 192,604 carats, resulting in a year-to-date (YTD) 572,320 carats. A total of 217,380 carats sold in the quarter over sales of Q2, 156,942 carats, realising revenue of US$17.6 million over Q2 of US$12.5 million at an average value of US$81 per carat remained up over Q2 of US$80 per carat).
Stuart Brown, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Despite experiencing several disruptions during the quarter due to heavy, above average rainfall, the orebody has started to deliver the higher grades we have been expecting and so carats produced increased compared with the previous quarter. "In the first nine months of the financial year, Liqhobong has recovered fewer carats than planned due to the adverse weather and higher water levels in the main pit, particularly in February and March, which restricted access to the higher grade ore blocks. We still expect to achieve annual production at the lower end of guidance of 800,000 to 850,000 carats, as mining progresses in the higher grade ore."
