Gem Diamonds revenue up 27 percent in 2014

London--After a year that saw mostly strong prices for both rough and polished diamonds at tender for the miner, Gem Diamonds’ revenue for the fiscal full year ended Dec. 31 hit $270.9 million.

Revenue for the company’s full year 2014 was up 27 percent on the strength of the prices from the Letšeng diamond mine in the Kingdom of Lesotho and it’s notable number of 20-plus-carat finds, while operating profit also increased 53 percent to $92.7 million.

Cash on hand at the end of the year was $110.7 million.

A total of 108,569 carats were recovered from the Letšeng mine in 2014, among them the highest number of diamonds greater than 20 carats produced in a single year since Gem Diamonds acquired the mine in 2006. This included seven diamonds that were greater than 100 carats each, five of which sold for a total of $37.4 million and made up approximately 14 percent the mine’s total revenue.

The largest recovered during the year was a 299.3-carat yellow diamond, which was sold into a partnership at the beginning of 2015 and will give Letšeng a 50 percent benefit from its polished sale.

Letšeng achieved an average of $2,540 per carat in 2014, up 24 percent from the per-carat average in the prior year.

Last year, Gem Diamonds initiated a number of projects to drive growth and innovation at Letšeng, including the installation of the new Coarse Recovery Plant to improve diamond recovery. It remains on track to be completed by the second quarter of 2015.

Gem Diamonds also implemented the Plant 2 Phase 1 upgrade project in the third quarter of 2014, expected to result in an increased treatment capacity of 250,000 tons per year and a reduction in diamond damage. It’s slated for completion in early 2015 as well.

These two projects will position the mine as a long-life open pit, the company said.

Gem Diamonds also brought its Ghaghoo mine in Botswana--its first underground diamond mine--into production, reporting in its annual results that the first diamonds produced there have been of better quality and average size than the stones initially recovered during the exploration phase.

After opening the Ghaghoo mine in September, the company now is developing the mine in phases, the first of which is aimed at confirming diamonds grades and prices as well as testing the different mining techniques. Production will be increased