Aussie sapphire and gemstone group Richland Resources Ltd (LON:RLD) reported a 66% rise in total income for the first half of 2017, with a tally of US$1.18mln versus US$710,000.
It achieved revenues of US$341,000 from sapphire sales in the first quarter, and US$689,000 in the second.
The income figure was boosted by an export grant and fuel rebates, together totalling almost US$100,000. At the same time, it reported an operating loss of US$960,000, narrowed from a US$1.46mln loss in the same period of last year.
READ: Richland firms up the sales pipeline for its Australian gemstone output
The company ended the half with US$300,000 of cash, and US$4.2mln of assets.
Operationally, the focus has been on the ramp-up of the Capricorn sapphire mine, in Queensland, where in the second quarter, a production target of 1.2 mln carats was achieved.
"During Q2 2017, as well as achieving our ramp-up target of 1.2 million carats per quarter, our Q2 revenue covered over 95% of our Q2 Production and Operating costs for the Capricorn Sapphire project as we implemented the final ramp-up stage,” said Bernard Olivier, Richland chief executive.
He added: “Operational ramp-up and sales initiatives have combined to enable us to mine both more efficiently and achieve higher revenue for our product as we seek to develop our brand.”
In total, the group produced 1.96 mln carats over the six month period with some 114.3 thousand tonnes of material processed through the first half. An average grade of 17.2 carats per tonne was reported for the period.
Project-level costs amounted to US$647,000 in the first quarter, and US$780,000 in the second.