Gem Diamonds announced a drop in proceeds at its tender of small diamonds from the Letseng mine which concluded on March 18 and said that it was cancelling the ongoing Letseng large diamond tender and replacing it with a flexible direct sale process.

The company said that the small diamond tender realised US$ 7.8 million which was 18% below the like for like prices reached at the last small diamond tender held in November last year before the Covid19 economic crisis.

It also clarified that due to the travel and other restrictions imposed by the Belgian government and the governments of the Company’s clients, the Letseng large diamond tender, which commenced on 16 March and was due to have closed next week on 25 March, has been cancelled.

The company said that instead, a flexible direct sale process has been put in place for these large and high quality diamonds which have seen significant demand during the tender viewings held to date. This sales process will include direct sales and also partnership arrangements. Any diamonds which are not sold under the flexible sales process will be held over for sale at a later date, it added.

Gem Diamonds also emphasised that, as per an earlier statement, the Letseng mine remains in full production and that there are a number of precautionary processes in place at the mine site, and throughout the Company’s operations, to prevent the outbreak of the Covid19 disease. 

It stressed that there have been no reported instances of any Covid19 positive cases at any of the Company’s operations. 

Clifford Elphick, CEO of the Company, commented, “The results of the Letseng small diamond tender are resilient given the difficult circumstances under which the tender was held caused by the ongoing Covid19 situation. We look forward to proceeding with the flexible sales processes in respect of the Letseng large diamond parcel which contains many high quality diamonds.”