DFI sells 7 127 carats for record average price of US$239/carat

VANCOUVER – Diamond Fields International (DFI) has announced that it made a sale of 7,126.92 carats on July 8 at an average price of US$239,16 (N$1 434,96) per carat for a total sale of US$1 704 449 (N$10 226 694).

According to DFI’s press release on Monday, the average sale price of US$239,16 per carat is a record for sales of diamonds from DFI’s marine concessions and a substantial increase over the US$143 (N$858) per carat average of last year. This parcel represents DFI’s 50 per cent share of the diamonds that were mined by the MV Kovambo between June 9 and 20 2004 and were tendered for sale in Antwerp, Belgium through Diamond Tenders (Belgium) N.V.The sale included a 5,26 carat diamond that sold for a DFI record of US$10 457 (N$62 742) per carat for a total of US$55 009 (N$330 054) more than doubling the Company’s previous record of approximately US$5 000 (N$30 000) per carat.This rare diamond was described to be of excellent purity, potentially VVS in polished quality with light blue colour.However, even excluding this special stone, the average carat price of the sale parcel still exceeds US$231 (N$1 386) per carat.Gregg Sedun, DFI president and CEO said: “This sale confirms the quality of DFI’s marine diamond resource.With the substantial increase in diamond production from our marine concessions achieved by the Seabed Crawler recovery system and the significant price increase achieved for our diamonds, we continue to demonstrate the profitability of our marine mining.I am extremely pleased with our results to date and eagerly await future production results.”Recently DFI recovered close to 60 000 diamonds in the first 22 days of mining in the western limb (MF5) of its Marshall Fork deposit off Luderitz.DFI Ltd. is an internationally active exploration and mining company pursuing mineral exploration opportunities worldwide.The company’s aims at maximising cash flow from its Namibian marine diamond concessions and also to explore and develop its international mineral exploration projects.This parcel represents DFI’s 50 per cent share of the diamonds that were mined by the MV Kovambo between June 9 and 20 2004 and were tendered for sale in Antwerp, Belgium through Diamond Tenders (Belgium) N.V.The sale included a 5,26 carat diamond that sold for a DFI record of US$10 457 (N$62 742) per carat for a total of US$55 009 (N$330 054) more than doubling the Company’s previous record of approximately US$5 000 (N$30 000) per carat.This rare diamond was described to be of excellent purity, potentially VVS in polished quality with light blue colour.However, even excluding this special stone, the average carat price of the sale parcel still exceeds US$231 (N$1 386) per carat.Gregg Sedun, DFI president and CEO said: “This sale confirms the quality of DFI’s marine diamond resource.With the substantial increase in diamond production from our marine concessions achieved by the Seabed Crawler recovery system and the significant price increase achieved for our diamonds, we continue to demonstrate the profitability of our marine mining.I am extremely pleased with our results to date and eagerly await future production results.”Recently DFI recovered close to 60 000 diamonds in the first 22 days of mining in the western limb (MF5) of its Marshall Fork deposit off Luderitz.DFI Ltd. is an internationally active exploration and mining company pursuing mineral exploration opportunities worldwide.The company’s aims at maximising cash flow from its Namibian marine diamond concessions and also to explore and develop its international mineral exploration projects.