The total diamond resources contained in Gem Diamonds' mining operations stand at 28.89 million carats, the company states in its newly released Independent Technical Report.

The company's Letseng diamond mine in the Kingdom of Lesotho contains 3.66 million carats with a total value of $9.9 billion at today's market price. The Letseng diamonds, known for their exceptional quality, have an unusually high per-carat value of $2,395-$3,186/carat.

The Gope diamond project in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, which received a go-ahead for development only a few months ago, reportedly contains 20.5 million carats of diamonds with a per-carat value assessed at $223. The total value of the Gope diamond resources is estimated at $4.6 billion.

Gem Diamonds' Ellendale Mine in Australia, which supplies yellow diamonds to Tiffany & Co, is reported to hold 4.69 million carats of diamonds worth $83 million. The per-carat value of Ellendale diamonds ranges from $148 for diamonds recovered from the E4 kimberlite pipe to $513/carat for diamonds recovered from the E9 pipe.