The production was hit by a lower realized grades in all the three ore bodies and a higher proportion of the lower grade A154 North ore being processed.
During the quarter, processing volumes were 5% lower than the previous year quarter as the processing improved in prior quarters and fully exhausted the stockpiled ore by the third calendar quarter.
However for the full year 2014, carats recovered totaled 7.23 million, while the processing volumes increased by 8% to 2.28 million from 2.12 million carats a year earlier.
In the calendar 2015, the company expects Diavik Diamond mine to produce approximately 6.7 million carats with mining and processing of around 2.1 million tons of ore.
Mining is expected to be carried out underground with around 0.8 million tons, 0.4 million tons and 0.9 million tons planned to be sourced from A-154 North, A-154 South and A-418 respectively.
