Diamond supplier Namakwa garnered some $9.5 million at a recent Johannesburg sale, diamondintelligence,com reported on Monday. The integrated diamond company, which focuses its activities in southern Africa, sold some 22,841 carats together with Storm Mountain Diamonds, its joint venture partner in the Lesotho Kao Valley kimberlite project.

Among the diamonds sold was a 7.53-carat vivid orange colored diamond, which fetched a record price of $176,713 per carat, a total of over $1.3 million. A 26.74-carat D (IF) diamond was sold for $44,000 per carat, a price that is more in keeping with the current market for similar polished diamonds.

"Achieved prices are significantly ahead of our expectations and demonstrate the shortage of the right product currently being demanded by the market," said Heno Kruger, head of trading and beneficiation at Namakwa . "There was great interest in the two single stones, with the vivid orange responsible for a level of participation in the tender that is almost without precedent in recent years".