Gem Diamonds recovers 149 carat diamond from Letseng

Gem Diamonds has recovered an "exceptional quality" 149 carat, D colour Type IIa diamond, with "excellent" shape, from the Letseng mine in Lesotho.

This is the fourth high quality diamond of more than 100 carats recovered so far this year. Last week, the company recovered a 910 carat diamond.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Richard Hatch said: "We would expect it to reach a value of around $4.5m-$7.5m. Alongside the recovery of the other +100ct stones, the proceeds of the 149ct will, in our view, be put towards deleveraging and contributing towards the waste strip for 2018.

"At 1.18x NAV, the shares appear fairly valued to us, but note that continued recovery of +100ct stones should continue to be supportive for the company’s share price."

At 0920 GMT, the shares were down 0.3% to 88.74p.