Namakwa Diamonds Ltd released its Interim Management Statement for the period between March 1 2010 and July 19 2010. The report's highlights were posted on the miner's website.

Reviewing the Lesotho project, Namakwa said that project was on schedule for pre-production in January 2011 and will go into commercial production in September 2011. The diamond miner said it has so far recovered "significant proportion of top white gem and commercial white clean goods, with several fancy colors, and Type II A D flawless diamonds."

Reviewing its projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa, the diamond miner said that in the DRC, trial-mining in the diverted rivers has demonstrated immediate improvements in project area grade; while in South Africa, production for the period came to 13,329 carats.

Overall, said Namakwa, demand for rough goods remained strong and the upward price trend in polished continues.

Other financial figures indicated that the diamond company had a net asset value of $64 million and net working capital of $26 million.

Namakwa Diamonds' Chief Executive Nico Kruger said: “The development of our Mining Division remains on track, with positive results from Lesotho and marked improvements in grade in the DRC during early phase pre-production mining, in line with management expectations, endorsing the mining strategies pursued.

"The Sales & Trading Division continues to benefit from the strength in rough prices and the continued overall upward trend in polished prices. The long-term fundamentals for the industry remain positive.”