Rockwell Diamonds, a Canadian diamond miner, has produced 3,854 carats of diamonds during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 ended 28 February 2013. The quarterly production demonstrates a drop of 5% compared to 4,043 carats of diamonds produced during the same quarter of 2012.

Drop in production has been attributed to the lower processed volumes and the placement of the Tirisano mine on care and maintenance in December 2012.

However, Saxendrift project located near Orange River in the Herbert district of the Northern Cape Province reported a 34% rise to 1,929 carats in output despite a 6% drop in volume of processed gravel.

Rockwell Diamonds CEO James Campbell stated that the company is pleased with the in-budget progress of its core Middle Orange River operations.

"We will increasingly focus our efforts and capital resources towards delivery of our Middle Orange River properties and their potential to produce large, high-quality diamonds," added Campbell.

Meanwhile, volume processed at Klipdam project grew by 44% 227,361m3, alongside 45% drop in diamond production. Quarterly production was 1,133 carats, against 2,048 carats produced in fourth quarter of 2013.

Rockwell is currently working on resuming operations at Niewejaarskraal mine within next six months having secured the board approval. It is planning to finance the operations through the sale of Klipdam mine and re-locating equipments from Klipdam and Tirisano.