Rockwell Diamonds President and CEO John Bristow has resigned, but will remain a director, the Vancouver-based diamond company announced Tuesday. Until a replacement for Bristow can be found, Rockwell's COO and CFO will report to a board committee.



The mining company owns three alluvial diamond mining operations in South Africa's Northern Cape Province: the Holpan, Klipdam, and Saxendrift mines. In addition, the company is in the process of buying the Tirisano diamond project from Etruscan Diamond Ltd.

Rockwell's most recent sale of diamonds comprised 5,294.55 carats that sold for $6.6 million, with a high average per-carat price of $1,244. All the diamonds sold were mined in the period from mid-August to mid-September 2010, and included 58 stones larger than 10 carats. Four diamonds in excess of 50 carats were also sold, including a 74.43-carat clean white diamond from Saxendrift and a 79.13-carat white diamond with inclusions.