An Australian mining firm is brining to a close its diamond industry activities in order to focus on iron ore exploration, Mining Weekly reports. Perth-based Tawana Resrouces, traded on the Australia Securities Exchange, is selling off its Flinders Island diamond project in Australia and its Kareevlei diamond project in South Africa, where stones are said to be worth $183 per carat.

Tawana will transfer ownership of the latter project, which were first discovered by De Beers in 1991, to BlueRock Diamonds for two payments totaling $384,000. Three-quarters of the sum will be paid within ten days and the remaining quarter will be transferred once the right to mine is officially transferred to BlueRock.

According to Rough and Polished, Tawana was willing to sell the Kareevlei mine to Agio Diamond Investments back in 2009, but at that time it demanded three times the price. The following year, it struck a deal with Rolatseng Mining, who agreed to pay a fraction up front and a small fortune once the diamond were extracted and sold, but it was unable to meet the payment deadline and defaulted.