Firestone to Test Diamond Prices in November

RAPAPORT... Firestone Diamonds plans to sell a portion of its inventory next month to assess the prices it can secure for its rough stones as the market begins to recover.The miner is holding 64,700 carats of rough from its Liqhobong mine in Lesotho, which has been on care and maintenance since April due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will separate those into at least two parcels and place them on tender when the company needs operating cash, it said last week.Those parcels will "test the market to determine the extent to which diamond prices have recovered, specifically for the Liqhobong diamond assortment, which will in turn inform the strategy of restarting the mine," the company noted.Firestone has also negotiated a deal with Absa, one of its lenders, to allow it to defer repayment of its debt until September 2021. The miner is still in discussions with other bondholders to find a long-term solution for repayment of its high debt levels.The company currently has $7.3 million in operating cash, compared with $9.6 million three months ago.Image: Rough diamonds from the Liqhobong mine. (Firestone Diamonds)