(IDEX Online) - Lucapa Diamond Company Limited said its production hit a record high in 2019. Annual production reached 49,120 carats with sales from the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho and the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola in totaling $55 million.
During Q4 they produced 287 +4.8 carat diamonds, making a combined total of 1,164 such stones during the year including five diamonds sized over 100 carat.
Mothae produce a record 9,837 carats in the quarter and over 30,000 carats for 2019, which was 45 percent ahead of plan.
The Lulo alluvial mine, which Lucapa operates and in which it holds a 40-percent stake, produced 4,170 carats in Q4. Production at the mine was disrupted during the quarter by near record rainfall towards the end of the year and a cessation in operations during the period because of labour action, which has since been resolved.
Despite these disruptions, annual production exceeded 19,000 carats, within 1 percent of the previous year's result.
Lulo and Mothae both produce large and high-value diamonds, with over 75 percent of revenues from both mines generated from the recovery of +4.8 carat stones. The average sale price of diamonds from Lulo totaled $1,185 per carat ($1,127 FY2019). Diamonds from Mothae generated $597 per-carat during the quarter ($837 FY2019).