Lucara uncovers yet another gem
Lucara Diamond Corporation, the emerging rough diamond producer has recovered 1,174. 76 carat diamond, the third largest after two exceptional recoveries of 1109 carat and 1,758 carat which was recovered in Karowe mine.
The Canadian company highlighted in a press release that several other diamonds of similar appearance ( 471 carat, 218 carat, 159 carat) were recovered on the same day, indicating the 1,174 diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of less than 2000 carats. The Mega Diamond Recovery is positioned after the primary crusher, ahead of the autogenous mill, and is the first opportunity for diamond recovery within the circuit.
Lucara Chief Executive Officer, Eira Thomas said they are delighted to be reporting another historic diamond recovery and its third diamond over 1,000 carats. “Although complex, these diamond recoveries do contain large domains of top colour white gem that will be transformed through our partnership with HB Antwerp into valuable collections of top colour polished diamonds, very much in high demand in the market today. Besides the 1,174 carat stone, several other high quality white gems were recovered up to 148 carats in size, and year to date Karowe has produced 17 diamonds greater than 100 carats, including five diamonds greater than 300 carats.”
The company stated that during the 11- day production period, five high quality diamond including 148 carat, 90 carat, 88 carat, 86 carat and 67 carat diamonds were in line with resource expectations. “Continued strong resource performance and recovery of large diamonds reinforces the significance of the EM/ PK( S) as an important economic driver for the proposed underground mine at Karowe.”
The Canadian based Lucara Diamond Corp is currently working on expanding its Karowe mine following government of Botswana’s approval of proposed power line route and granted a 25- year extension of mining license to 2046. This is sufficient to cover the remaining open- pit life which was supposed to close in 2026 and the expected life of the proposed underground expansion, currently planned to 2040. The company is currently exploring opportunities to arrange debt financing for the underground expansion of Karowe mine. The underground expansion program has an estimated capital cost of $ 514 million ( P5.6 billion) and a five- year period of development.