Lucapa Diamond Company Limited (ASX: LOM) and its partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P.and Rosas & Petalas have recovered the 17th 100 carat plus white diamond by Sociedade Mineria Do Lulo (SML) from its Lulo alluvial mine in Angola.
The 113 carat gem-quality white stone is the 1st 100 plus carat diamond recovered from Mining Block 46, immediately downstream of the Canguige river.
Managing Director Stephen Wetherall said the find is particularly significant, as it shows that these large and high-value diamonds continue to occur right up to the current focus area of our kimberlite exploration programme.
“This recovery builds on the performance of Lulo in the latter half of 2020 and bodes well for the coming months as mining focuses on the southern terrace mining blocks during the wet season.”
Lucapa is a niche diamond producer with high-value mines in Angola (Lulo) and Lesotho (Mothae).
The Lulo alluvial mine and Mothae kimberlite mine both produce large and high-value diamonds, with >75% of revenues generated from the recovery of +4.8 carat stones.
Lulo has produced 17 +100 carat diamonds to date and is one of the highest average US$ per carat alluvial diamond producers in the world. Lucapa and its Project Lulo partners have also received highly encouraging results from their search to discover the primary hard-rock source of the high-value Lulo alluvial diamonds.
The 1.1Mtpa Mothae kimberlite mine in diamond-rich Lesotho commenced commercial mining and processing operations in January 2019. It produced >30,000 carats in its first year of production, including 4 +100 carat diamonds. Lucapa has recently secured funding to commission a ~45% expansion in the processing capacity of the Mothae kimberlite mine from 1.1Mtpa to 1.6Mtpa which is scheduled for completion in Q1 2021.
Lucapa’s Board, management team and new strategic investors have decades of diamond industry experience across the globe and right through the diamond pipeline, particularly in extracting value from large and high-quality diamonds.