If you’d invested in: Firestone Diamonds and Halosource

published 25 November 2016

Firestone Diamonds (Aim: FDI) is a London-listed miner operating the Liqhobong mine in Lesotho. The company listed on Aim in June 2014, raising $224m in capital. It aims to produce a million carats a year, and recently announced the recovery of its first stones. Its project is "98% complete and well ahead of schedule", it says, and is "on the cusp of entering commercial production". The shares have had an excellent run, climbing by more than 270% in the last year.

Seattle-based Halosource (Aim: HALO) provides water-purification products to customers primarily in China and India. Despite the obvious demand, the company is struggling, making a loss of $11.5m in the 12 months to the end of December 2015. It warned of lower revenue in July, and just two weeks ago said profits would be "materially lower than market expectations", with directors reviewing "all strategic options available to the company". The share price has collapsed down by more than 90% in the last year.

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Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin.

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.