Firestone Diamonds plc almost doubled its loss for the six months ended December 31 due to a deferred tax charge during the period of $4.6 million, the company reported. The loss for the period was $8.8 million compared with $4.6 million for the year-earlier period.
The miner, which owns 75 percent of the Liqhobong Diamond Mine in Lesotho, said it has total available debt facilities of $29.0 million, and cash in hand of $3.3 million.
The firms reported that zero lost time injury record continued, with over 3.6 million man hours worked; the project completed on time and within a $185.4 million budget and that commissioning commenced last October.
A 37-carat white diamond has been recovered, together with 20 special stones larger than 10.8 carats as well as several fancy yellow diamonds.
Its first two diamond sales were completed in February and March 2017 in Antwerp, with total sale proceeds of $13.7 million. All 127,590 carats offered for sale were sold, achieving an average price of $107 per carat.
Stuart Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Firestone, commented: "Finishing the construction of the Liqhobong Diamond Mine and commencing production in October 2016 are two momentous milestones for the company.
"We look forward to the continued trend of over achievement that we have demonstrated throughout as we continue with our ramp-up phase. Importantly we are now working towards achieving commercial production in the coming months."
