Lucara in new find

Lucara Diamond Corporation has dug up yet another exceptional stone, this week unveiling a 67.2-carat fancy pink diamond from its Karowe Diamond Mine in the Boteti sub-district. Karowe is world-renowned for producing historic rough diamonds such as the Lesedi la Rona, the Sewelo and the Constellation. Recently, the mine produced a 1,174-carat diamond, making the company the only in the world to have two diamonds of over 1,000 carats. Lucara president, Eira Thomas said the latest find had been discovered from the now-famous South Lobe site along with two additional pink stones of similar colour and purity weighing 11.17 and 5.05 carats. The larger fancy pink has already been named ‘Boitumelo’ and is estimated to be one of the world’s largest rough pink diamonds on record. For Lucara, the latest find boosts the company’s fundraising activities as it seeks $514 million (P6 billion) to establish underground production at Karowe. This week, Lucara announced it had already secured $220 million (P2.4 billion) from a consortium of financiers. Thomas stressed that going underground would extend Karowe’s mine life to at least 2040 and deliver at an estimated $4 billion (P44 billion) in additional revenues using conservative diamond price assumptions.