Firestone Diamonds recovers 70-carat diamond from Lesotho mine

Firestone Diamonds has recovered a 70-carat white, "makeable" diamond from its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho.

A "makeable" stone is one whose shape lends itself to having one large diamond cut from it.

The diamond was recovered undamaged and will go on sale at the next tender, which is scheduled to take place in March.

Chief executive officer Paul Bosma said: "The 70 carat stone was recovered in the northern, low grade part of the pit where the bulk of our mining will take place in the coming months. Although the market for the smaller stones has been under pressure, we've seen continued demand and good prices realised for special stones."

Back in December, Firestone recovered a 46-carat gem diamond that sold for more than $1m at a recent sale.

In a quarterly update last week, the company said it was on track to meet its full-year 2019 guidance of between 820,000 and 870,000 carats recovered.

At 0940 GMT, the shares were up 8.3% to 2.92p.