Botswana Diamonds releases sparkling interim results

London-listed diamond junior Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) forecasts a cheerful future for the diamond market, despite it sliding into the red in the six months to the end of December with a pre-tax loss of over US$327,000 (£207,000).

In its interim results from June to December 2011 published today, the company’s Chairman John Teeling said BOD had “good ground, funds and skills”.

“Exploration is a high-risk venture but the potential rewards make the risk worthwhile,” he added.

Comparative figures for the junior, which is exploring in Botswana, Cameroon and Zimbabwe, show a pre-tax profit of £38,000 for the period from 22 September to the end of December in 2010.

Operating losses were about US$60,000 (£176,000) against US$7,900 (£5000) in the period.

Botswana Diamonds said that continuous exploration projects were necessitated by a booming international demand for diamond jewellery, especially in China, India and other Asian countries that were on target to exceed current US diamond consumption by 2020.