Dominion Diamond Corporation, which closed Q1 fiscal 2017 (Feb-April, 2016) with a loss of US$ 1 million, registered a higher loss (before taxes) in Q2 2017 (May-July 2016) of US$ 37.9 million with consolidated net loss attributable to shareholders of $ 32.9 million. This amounted to a loss of $ 0.39 per share for the quarter.

The Company’s loss (before taxes) for six months ended July 31, 2016 (H1 2017) amounted to US$ 73. 8 million; while loss attributed to earnings per share was $ 0.40 for the period.

“Second quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $35.4 million remained positive but was negatively impacted by the sale of lower value goods from the Misery Satellites, as well as the process plant fire at the Ekati Diamond Mine, which resulted in $ 22.0 million in mine standby costs being incurred during the quarter,” said  Dominion Diamond.

An interim dividend of $ 0.20 per share was declared by the Board of Directors.

Touching on some positive points, Brendan Bell, Chief Executive Officer of Dominion Diamond said: “We are very pleased to announce the sale of the first production from Misery Main, which provides confirmation of our modelled pricing and has given us even more confidence in the positive cash flow impact of Misery Main through the next phase of the Ekati mine. While the process plant fire and the final stage of the transitional period at Ekati weighed on our earnings and cash flow in the quarter, we are encouraged by our ability to generate positive operating cash flow even under these circumstances.”

He added: “During the quarter we also published a positive feasibility study for the Jay Project and outlined a revised capital allocation strategy, which is underpinned by our strong balance sheet and strong cash flow generation capabilities.”

Also, the Company underlined its position saying: “The Company has a strong balance sheet with total unrestricted cash resources as at July 31, 2016 of US$ 180.4 million, restricted cash of US$ 65.5 million and an undrawn availability of $ 210.0 million under its corporate revolving credit facility.”

The Company’s consolidated sales revenue for Q2 2017 stood at US$ 160 million as compared to US$ 209.7 million for the same period of the previous year. Sales for H1 2017 amounted to US$ 338.2 million as against US$ 397.4 million in H1 2016.

Dominion Diamond had approximately 2.3 million carats of rough diamond inventory available for sale with an estimated market value of approximately US$ 142 million as on July 31, 2016. The Company had approximately 0.3 million carats of rough diamond inventory that was work in progress.

The Company also announced the appointment of Mr. Matthew Quinlan as its Chief Financial Officer effective from September 10, 2016.