Rockwell Diamonds shareholders pass all resolutions at AGM

VANCOUVER, Sept. 9, 2011 /CNW/ --
Company provides strategic update

VANCOUVER, Sept. 9, 2011 /CNW/ - Rockwell is pleased to announce that
all the resolutions put forward in the Proxy were passed by the
shareholders at the annual and special general meeting of shareholders
held in Vancouver today. The Company has also provided a strategic
update on the operations and its immediate priorities.

Annual and Special General Meeting results:

The resolutions which were passed at the meeting were as follows:

    --  Dr. Mark Bristow, James Campbell, David J. Copeland, Gary Wu,
        Dr Willem Jacobs, Richard Linnell and Sandile Zungu were
        re-elected as Directors;
    --  KPMG Inc. Chartered Accountants were appointed as Auditors of
        the Company for 2012;
    --  Approval was obtained for the new Share Option Plan; and
    --  Shareholders voted unanimously in favour of the refinancing
        plan with Daboll Consultants Ltd.

Strategic update:

Substantial progress has been made at the Company's mining operations in
the second quarter of fiscal 2012:

    --  At Tirisano, the first two streams will be ramping up to a
        monthly production of 90,000 cubic metres during the course of
        October 2011 and this includes relocating the Holpan recovery
        plant to Tirisano and expanding the existing front-end. Having
        received the Section 11 cession from the DMR, the focus is also
        on finalizing the transaction, which is expected to occur
        before the mine starts ramping up production. It is encouraging
        that the quality and price per carat of the stones recovered at
        Tirisano to date exceeds any historically produced by the
        mine's previous operators.
    --  Mining at Klipdam has migrated from the palaeo channel to mine
        to the Rooikoppie gravels where diamonds can be recovered at a
        significantly lower unit cost. Accordingly there is now
        potential for the life of this mine to be extended beyond the
        one year life which was previously reported.
    --  Recoveries at Saxendrift have improved substantially, with
        particularly good production in August 2011 from the multiple
        mine faces which have recently been opened and despite the
        persistent high sand content of the gravels and the absence of
        a suitable front-end at the plant.  The Bivitec front end
        screen, for which Rockwell announced the planned installation
        in early July 2011 will be commissioned towards the end of
        October 2011. The mine's performance is now moving towards the
        production levels originally estimated by the Company's
        geologists. The addition of diamond processing skills to the
        team is already beginning to pay off.

There was strong interest in the private placement which has now closed
with total proceeds of $7.8 million. The final amount of the placement
was lower than what was initially targeted because the Company received
$6.5 million from asset sales, reviewed immediate capital requirements
and made a conscious decision to limit the dilution of existing
shareholders. It is also particularly gratifying that this level of
support was achieved from shareholders without issuing shares at
discounted values or the issue of special warrants.

The emphasis at Rockwell is now firmly on unlocking its profit potential
to supplement the capital which has recently been raised with
internally generated cash resources. The Company has also heightened
its focus on resolving the funding issues with its black economic
empowerment partners who have significant outstanding liabilities to
the Company. A favourable resolution to these negotiations would
substantially improve Rockwell's cash position.

The majority of the Company's shareholder support is currently through
the TSX. However, in order to capitalize on its South African roots,
Rockwell is actively engaging with the South African investment
community to achieve a more representative ownership balance between
the JSE and the TSX.

'We are pleased with the progress that Rockwell has made in the last
three months in creating a much more commercially aligned business,
focused on diamond value management to generate profit and to unlock
value for its loyal shareholders,' concluded Dave Copeland, Chairman of
Rockwell. 'The capital which has been raised will immediately be
applied to value creating growth opportunities, in order to enhance
cash generation with the focus on cash flow that will contribute to
funding the longer term growth objectives.'

About Rockwell Diamonds:

Rockwell is engaged in the business of operating and developing alluvial
diamond deposits, with a goal to become a mid-tier diamond mining
company.  The Company has three existing operations, which it is
progressively optimizing, two development projects and a pipeline of
earlier stage properties with future development potential. Rockwell is
also at an advanced stage of completing the acquisition of the Tirisano
property.

Rockwell also evaluates merger and acquisition opportunities which have
the potential to expand its mineral resources and production profile
and would provide accretive value to the Company.

No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information
contained in this news release.

Forward Looking Statements


Except for statements of historical fact, this news release contains
certain 'forward-looking information' within the meaning of applicable
securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized
by words such as 'plan', 'expect', 'project', 'intend', 'believe',
'anticipate', 'estimate' and other similar words, or statements that
certain events or conditions 'may' or 'will' occur. Although the
Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking
statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not
guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may
differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
in forward-looking statements include uncertainties and costs related
to exploration and development activities, such as those related to
determining whether mineral resources exist on a property;
uncertainties related to expected production rates, timing of
production and cash and total costs of production; uncertainties
related to the ability to obtain necessary licenses, permits,
electricity, surface rights and title for development projects; changes
in and the effect of government policies regarding mining and natural
resource exploration and exploitation; operating and technical
difficulties in connection with mining development activities;
uncertainties related to the accuracy of our mineral resource estimates
and our estimates of future production and future cash and total costs
of production.  In particular there can be no assurance that
refinancing funds will be available to Rockwell on acceptable terms or
any terms at all.

For further information on Rockwell, Investors should review Rockwell's
annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission www.sec.com and the Company's home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

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