LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Gemstones producer and developer Richland Resources announced its unaudited quarterly operational and sales update for the first quarter on Tuesday, with 699,957 carats produced as part of the production and ramp-up process for the Capricorn Sapphire mine held by wholly-owned subsidiary Capricorn Sapphire.
The AIM-traded firm noted that production occurred during January and February only, with no production in March in order to facilitate plant and infrastructure work as part of the final ramp-up phase.

It reported an average grade of approximately 17 carats per tonne across 42,421 tonnes of mined and processed alluvial material, with $0.34m total revenue achieved from sales concluded during the quarter.

Richland sold 664 carats of heated, cut and polished sapphires at an average price of $35.20 per carat from the first parcel of fully beneficiated material.

Another 176,470 carats of mid to higher quality sapphires were sold at an average price of $1.60 per carat, and 691,330 carats of lower-quality rough, untreated corundum and sapphire sales at an average price of 5 cents per carat.

Estimated project-level costs for Capricorn Sapphire stood at approximately $0.67m for the first quarter, the board said, with production and operating costs of US$0.52m excluding interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Capital expenditure costs in relation to infrastructure work were an additional $0.15m.

It achieved a total production and operating cost of $0.74 per carat during the first quarter, the board said, with full-scale work underway and on target to enable a production ramp-up to 1.2 million carats per quarter by the end of Q1.

Richland added that an initial maiden independent resource estimate was expected in the second quarter for the company's exploration licence EMP 25973.

"With the final ramp-up stage and optimisation work commencing during the period our Capricorn Sapphire mine is currently ahead of schedule to achieve full-scale production by the end of Q2 2017," said chief executive officer Bernard Olivier.

"Our sales strategy continues to progress well and Richland is on target to achieve operational profitability during the first half of 2017.

"Our objective remains to be a reliable, ethical producer of rough and beneficiated coloured gemstones located in politically stable regions."

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