Rockwell Recovers Large Stones from Holpan and Saxendrift

VANCOUVER, Jan. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Rockwell Diamonds Inc. ("Rockwell" or the "Company") (TSX: RDI; JSE: RDI; OTCBB: RDIAF) reports that it has recovered several large stones - plus-50 carats in size - from the Saxendrift and Holpan mining operations.

Some of these large diamonds were produced prior to the short break for the holiday season, and others were recovered since operational start-up on January 8, 2010. They are:

    -  52.40 carat clean light fancy yellow diamond from Holpan;

    -  60.52 carat light yellow octahedral diamond from Saxendrift;

    -  74.99 carat clean white irregular blocky stone from Saxendrift;

    -  54.23 carat light yellow broken macle stone with inclusions from
       Saxendrift; and

    -  60.51 light yellow rounded flat stone with oxide coating and minor
       inclusions from Saxendrift.

The stones are being cleaned to ensure that their proper characteristics, including colour and clarity, are apparent for valuation by the Company's diamond experts.

The Saxendrift mine is located adjacent to the Middle Orange River approximately 160 kilometers southwest of Kimberley, and the Holpan mine is located approximately 40 kilometers north of Kimberley, in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The four diamonds recovered at Saxendrift were mined from basal gravel and Rooikoppie deposits, whereas the Holpan stone was likely mined from paleochannel deposits.

President and CEO John Bristow stated "Our Saxendrift mine continues to impress with its regular yield of large and exceptional stones, highlighting the remarkable geological setting of this, and other, Middle Orange River deposits. This is also the setting for the Wouterspan deposit and reinforces our decision to implement the planning and re-commissioning of operations there which yields a similar diamond population. Aside from heavy rain at Holpan and Klipdam on the 7th and 8th of January which impacted processing and earth moving operations, we are pleased to report a smooth start-up in 2010. Our management and operations team are fully focused on ensuring a year of good production and growth for Rockwell."

    John Bristow
    President and CEO

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

Forward Looking Statements

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Other than statements of historical fact all statements in this release that address future production, reserve or resource potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that each Company expects are forward-looking statements. 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 market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, changes in and the effect of government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, availability of capital and financing, geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability, and general economic, and market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more 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.

SOURCE Rockwell Diamonds Inc.