(IDEX Online) - Lucapa today announced a $9.1m investment that will allow it to speed up exploration projects in Angola and Australia, as diamond prices maintain their steep rise.The Australian miner also said it was exploring a strategic collaboration to sell goods from its newly-acquired Merlin mine directly to the luxury jeweler Margot McKinney.Stephen Wetherall, Lucapa's managing director said the financing from Tribeca Investment Partners, based in Sydney and Singapore, would help it become "the pre-imminent mid-tier global diamond company".Proceeds from the investment will expedite exploration programs, Lucapa said, following a "significant and rapid increase in diamond prices in 2021 and 2022".The majority, around $5.5m, will fund exploration at Lulo, Angola, (pictured) for the primary source of large and high-value alluvial diamonds.The remainder will go towards reviving diamond mining in Australia, where no commercial mines are currently operating.Lucapa will invest in a feasibility study at Merlin, a Rio Tinto deposit from 1999 to 2003, and in a drilling program at Brooking, Western Australia.