Gem Diamonds' statistics showing a spike in rough diamond prices mirror trends De Beers' Diamond Trading Company has been seeing in its monthly sights since the beginning of the year. Gem Diamonds, which owns the Gope exploration company in Botswana, also operates the Letseng and Ellendale diamond mines in Lesotho and Australia respectively.
According to a First Quarter Management Statement released yesterday, the value of rough sold from Letseng in the first quarter of this year rose by 72 percent while Ellendale's rose by 379 percent. Letseng sold 15 468 carats at a price of US$1 753 per carat compared to the US$1 017 per carat the market was willing to buy the stones for in the first quarter of last year. Prices could climb higher for production from the Lesotho mine as its April tender achieved an average price of US$2 002 per carat.From Ellendale, Gem Diamonds sold 32 286 carats at a price of US$489 per carat, up from US$102 per carat recorded last year. Gem Diamonds CEO, Clifford Elphick, was perceptibly upbeat on the sales value being derived for the company's gemstones.
