Firestone Diamonds loses some sparkle as production estimates cut

Miner Firestone Diamonds warned that although it began commercial production in the summer, output was expected to be lower than its previous estimate of 2m carats per year to a rate of 800,000.

Production kicked off in June, the end of a seven months long construction and operational ramp up program at the site that began in December 2016 and was completed within its $185.4m budget.

In Friday's report, the AIM-listed miner said 365,891 carats had been recovered, 310,376 of which had been sold at an average price of $90, generating $27.8m in revenue for the firm.

The new company recorded an EBITDA of $4.6m, but fell to a pre-tax loss of $130m, almost entirely due to a $122.6m impairment charge.

Cash balances at the end of the year hit $17.3m and the company had a standby facility of $10m available.

Since the report ended on 30 June, Firestone revised the life of the mine from nine to 14 years, and announced on Friday that it intended to raise capital of $25m to provide additional funds to work with, as well as sustaining the group at the current lower-than-expected average value of diamonds.

As of 1000 GMT, shares had plummeted 32.66% to 13.30p.