Lucara to Hold First Sale on Clara Platform

RAPAPORT... Lucara Diamond Corp. will launch its first sale in Novemberusing its new digital platform that allows customers to obtain the exact rough diamondsthey need, it said Monday. The miner will upload a variety of diamonds to its Clarasystem, including stones from its Karowe mine in Botswana. It will also offer roughfrom other sellers, ranging from 1 to 15 carats in higher color grades andqualities. A small number of buyers that have signed up for the program - includingdiamond manufacturers and jewelers - will then input their polished-diamond requirementsinto the system, which Clara will run through a matching cycle. "After several months of intense commercialization efforts,which are tracking on schedule and under budget, we are excited to be movingforward with our first sale," said Lucara CEO Eira Thomas. "Clara is a scalablebusiness solution for the entire diamond industry that is long overdue andnecessary to modernize, streamline and increase consumer confidence in themarketplace." The miner acquired the digital-sales platform in February, atthe same time that Clara shareholder Eira Thomas became CEO at Lucara. InAugust, the company partnered with Sarine Technologies to provide trackingsolutions for stones on the platform using Sarine's Galaxy inclusion mapping,which creates a digital fingerprint containing information about a diamond'sattributes. Lucara will continue to sell diamonds through its regulartenders as well, with Clara supplementing those sales. The miner will use feedback from initial Clara participants toimprove the system, after which it will open the platform to other producersand manufacturers. Image: Karowe mine, Botswana. (Lucara Diamond Corp.)