Gem Diamonds announced the recovery of a 117.47-carat rough diamond from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho. This marks the fourth time this year that the company has unearthed a rough diamond exceeding 100 carats.
The discovery of this gem-quality, type IIa diamond occurred on October 29, with Gem Diamonds revealing the news on Tuesday. This find comes in the wake of a 101.96-carat high-quality rough diamond discovered on September 28, a 163.91-carat yellow diamond on June 22, and a 122-carat stone found on March 5.
Letšeng Mine has long been recognized for producing high-quality rough diamonds, frequently exceeding 100 carats. However, recent years have seen a decline in such discoveries. Nevertheless, this latest recovery has matched the previous year's total, during which the company also retrieved four diamonds in this category. This compares to six such diamonds in 2021 and 16 in 2020.
The decreasing number of special-size stones has impacted the company's revenue, resulting in a 28% year-on-year sales decline to $71.8 million in the first half of 2023. Gem Diamonds incurred a loss of $1 million, in contrast to a profit of $3.8 million during the same period in 2022.
