Diamonds recovered from tailings (waste material left behind after diamond mining) from the Lace Mine in South Africa sold for a price of $94 per carat at a tender in Johannesburg this week, the DiamondCorp diamond company reports.

According to proactiveinvestors.co.uk, the company ran the tender to determine the current market price for tailings diamonds from the Lace mine. All of the diamonds sold.

Generally speaking, kimberlite diamonds are valued at 1.5-2 times what tailings diamonds sell for. Given that rule of thumb, DiamondCorp CEO Paul Loudon said that the high prices realized for the Lace tailings showed the current strength of the diamond market and provides "considerable promise" that the company will see over $120 per carat for kimberlite diamonds from the Lace mine.

In September 2008, DiamondCorp tendered "tailings diamonds" for a per-carat price of $55. In May 2009, after diamond prices had plummeted due to the financial crisis, tailings diamond sold at tender for $33/carat.

Three weeks ago, DiamondCorp informed its investors that development at the Lace mine was proceeding on schedule and at budget, with the company expecting to reach the site's main kimberlite pipe in March of this year.