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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Tuesday was a positive 98-83-129 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose fractionally to 534. Terry Tucker's Southstone Minerals Ltd. (SML) closed unchanged at one cent on 2,000 shares. Despite the shoestring share price, the company cheers that mining at its Oena operation in South Africa is "progressing on schedule with a significant increase in production capacity" -- but not until 2024, that is.

In the meantime, the company's new contractors are presumably ramping up toward this significant increase, but if so, the increase must be coming exponentially. Through the three-month period ended Nov. 30, 2023, Southstone's first quarter of fiscal 2024, Oena produced 60 diamonds weighing 126.2 carats, with the mining focused on the Sandberg section.

While the average stone size was noteworthy, at a bit over two carats per diamond, the quarterly haul included just a single special diamond, which are those that weigh at least 10.8 carats. The one special did weigh a hefty 30.25 carats, and Mr. Tucker, chief executive officer, says the gem will be sold in the company's coming tender in mid-January.

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