mining news
8
06.13
Reporting on the three months ended 28
February 2013 (fourth quarter), Rockwell Dia-
monds Inc, listed on the TSX and JSE, says
it recorded positive revenue growth for the
fourth consecutive quarter. Total revenue was
C$9,1 million, up 11 % year-on-year. Diamond
production, however, was down 5 % year-on-
year due to a 6 % decline in the overall volume
of gravel processed, including the impact of
the decision to place the Tirisano mine near
Ventersdorp on care and maintenance in the
fourth quarter. Diamond production and grav-
el processed from remaining operations were
up 9 % year-on-year. Price per carat improved
30 % to average US$1 355.
During the fourth quarter the average to-
tal cash cost for all the operations increased
to US$12,39/m
3
from a total cash cost of
US$10,37/m
3
in the comparative period of
2012. According to Rockwell, this increase
is attributable to phasing Tirisano into care
and maintenance and technical optimisation
programmes at Klipdam. Higher fuel, mainte-
nance and labour costs also had an impact
across all operations.
Combined quarterly volumes of gravel
processed at the Saxendrift mine and fur-
ther bulk sampling at the Saxendrift Exten-
sion project declined 6 % year-on-year to
383 770 m
3
in the fourth quarter, in line with
plan, while carat production increased 34 %
to 1 929 carats. The overall grade improved
by 43 % to 0,5 carats/100 m
3
as a result of
better grades achieved from the Saxendrift
Extension site.
Klipdam operations delivered a 44 % in-
crease in fourth quarter mining volume
production to 227 361 m
3
, in part due to
the outsourcing of the mining operations
to a specialised earthmoving contractor in
November 2012. However, carat production
fell 45 % from the same period last year to
1 133 carats.
Volumes processed at Tirisano until it was
placed on care and maintenance in Decem-
ber 2012 amounted to 1 823 m
3
(producing
39 carats). Two royalty mining contracts were
operated by smaller-scale operators on spe-
cific areas of the Tirisano property, yielding
727 carats. A third royalty mining contract
started operation subsequent to the end of
Rockwell reports on a “challenging” quarter
the financial year and an additional contract
will start in July 2013 to achieve Rockwell’s
goal of processing 150 000 m
3
per month at
the property within six months.
Having acted to address the operations at
Tirisano and Klipdam to stem cash losses,
Rockwell is now focusing its available capital
and resources to grow the production profile
of its properties in the Middle Orange River
region. Rockwell’s flagship Saxendrift mine is
operating effectively and is cash generative.
The Middle Orange River operations are be-
ing expanded from this centre of production
with the aim of achieving monthly production
volumes of 500 000 m
3
.
Progress with this growth strategy is as fol-
lows:
The Saxendrift Hill Complex mine is cur-
rently in production ramp-up. Its process-
ing plant, with 100 000 m
3
/month capacity,
is based on two Bulk X-ray systems that
have successfully been piloted at Saxen-
drift during the fiscal year.
Bulk sampling to define the resource at
Saxendrift Extension has been completed.
The aim is to integrate the mining of this
resource into the existing Saxendrift mine
plan, extending the useful life of the exist-
Mining operations underway at the Saxendrift Hill Complex. The mine is currently in production ramp up (photo: Rockwell Diamonds).
The processing plant at the Saxendrift Hill Complex is based on two Bulk X-ray systems (photo: Rock-
well Diamonds).
ing Saxendrift processing infrastructure by
several years.
An updated Preliminary Economic As-
sessment was completed post financial
year end at the Wouterspan property (see
page 6).
Construction of a new processing plant to
bring the Niewejaarskraal mine back into
production is in progress with a capital
budget of C$2,2 million. The project is on
schedule and commissioning at the design
capacity of 115 000 m
3
is expected to be-
gin within three months.
Commenting on the fourth quarter perfor-
mance of Rockwell, James Campbell, CEO
and President of Rockwell Diamonds, said:
“Although the fourth quarter was challenging,
we have taken decisive action at our lossmak-
ing operations, putting us on a sounder foot-
ing for fiscal 2014. We delivered good revenue
growth, but our financial performance was
impacted by the full costs of retrenchments
and care and maintenance processes for Ti-
risano. At Klipdam, volumes increased in line
with plan, but the recovery of diamonds was
disappointing, resulting in a loss. Now that
these legacy operational issues have been
addressed, we can focus on our cash genera-
tive operations in the Middle Orange River re-
gion and on building the company.”
