Namakwa Diamonds Limited Result of Tender (4251W)

TIDMNAD

RNS Number : 4251W

Namakwa Diamonds Limited

25 January 2013

25(th) January 2013

Namakwa Diamonds Limited (AIM: NAD)

("Namakwa Diamonds" or the "Company")

Result of Tender

Namakwa Diamonds is pleased to announce that it has successfully closed its recent sale of rough diamonds from the Kao Mine in Lesotho, operated by 62.5% owned subsidiary, Storm Mountain Diamonds. The tender in Antwerp, through Fusion Alternatives (the dedicated tender partner of I Hennig & Co.), took place between 17 and 24 January 2013.

All 52 lots offered, totalling 21,506 carats at an average diamond size of 0.20 carats per stone, were sold at an average selling price of US $257.74 per carat. The sale realised revenues of approximately US$5.5 million. The 100 percent sell through achieved, again reflects the strong demand for Kao product.

Commenting, Theo Botoulas, Chief Executive Officer of Namakwa Diamonds, said: "The seventh Antwerp tender of Kao product, and twelfth since January 2012, has seen the Company now sell a total of 188,955 carats from Kao Mine production, generating US$55.10 million in revenues for the Company.

"Diamond production continues to deliver to expectation, with the decrease since the last tender being attributable to the Christmas break, higher than normal seasonal rainfall at the Kao site as well as repairs to the scrubber unit. A thorough assessment of the scrubber unit was commissioned which revealed that the unit would in all likelihood fail in the future. Management has continued to operate the mine at a reduced rate to avoid total failure whilst a new scrubber unit is designed and constructed. Several initiatives to modify and improve the recovery process are currently underway in parallel with the process above, which will affect production as the plant is shut down to enable the work to be done in order to effect the repairs and improvements. The work will be implemented during planned shutdowns over three time periods during the course of the next 16 to 18 weeks."

For further information please visit www.namakwadiamonds.com or contact:

 
 Namakwa Diamonds                     Shore Capital 
                        +27 11 334                   [phone] 
 Theo Botoulas           8886         Pascal Keane    4090 
 
 Tavistock Communications 
 Simon Hudson/Kelsey    [phone] 
  Traynor                3150 
 

About Namakwa Diamonds Limited

Namakwa is a diamond resource group, which seeks to extract maximum value from the marketing and sale of Group mined and contracted production.

The Group's mining activities are focused on the Kao mine in Lesotho. Operated by Storm Mountain Diamonds, the Kao Main Pipe Complex represents a resource endowment of c.183Mt of kimberlite ore containing c.11.6M carats ("cts") (3.3Mcts Indicated and 8.3Mcts at Inferred levels of confidence), with an additional c.1.7Mcts at a Deposit level of confidence, in which Namakwa holds a 62.5% interest. The other shareholders are the Government of Lesotho (25%) and Kimberlite Investments Lesotho Limited (12.5%).

The Group also maintains alluvial mining operations in the North West Province of South Africa and resource-development and exploration assets in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and in the offshore marine environment of Namibia. These combined resources add a further c.6.9Mcts at Indicated and Inferred levels of confidence to the Group's Global Resource Inventory which stands at 18, 535, 700 carats as at 31 August 2012.

Namakwa is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol NAD.

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