Gem Diamonds has announced the recovery of a 122.20-carat rough diamond from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho. This marks the third stone over 100 carats discovered in the past month and the 11th of such size found this year.
The diamond was identified on September 1, the company reported on Thursday. Earlier, on August 23, Gem Diamonds uncovered a 129.71-carat rough diamond. Additionally, on August 3, a 145.55-carat diamond was extracted. Earlier in the year, the company also recovered a 212.49-carat diamond in May, along with two type IIa diamonds weighing 169.15 and 118.74 carats in April.
The surge in large diamond finds is attributed to new operational improvements at Gem Diamonds’ processing plant. These enhancements have increased the recovery rate of large rough stones. This comes after a period of reduced large-stone recoveries, with only four diamonds over 100 carats found in 2022 and 2023, compared to six in 2021. This year’s results suggest Gem Diamonds is on track to match or surpass the 16 diamonds over 100 carats discovered in 2020.
In August, the company updated its production and sales forecasts for the year, driven by the increased recovery of large rough diamonds. Gem Diamonds now expects production to range between 98,000 and 101,000 carats and sales to fall between 100,000 and 103,000 carats. For the first half of the year, the company reported a profit of $5.5 million, up from $1.5 million in the same period last year. Revenue also saw a 9% increase, reaching $78 million.
