New Lucapa Site Fails to Yield Viable Diamonds

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company has failed to recover rough stones with sufficient commercial value from the Little Spring Creek exploration site at its Brooking lamproite mine inWestern Australia, it said Monday. The miner launched its Brooking project in October, and hassince recovered 1,219 viable stones from the site. However, follow-up explorationonly turned up 11 diamonds, with a total weight of 0.284 carats. Even the bigger ones, above one millimeter, were not commercially viable. Drilling at eight other target points atBrooking also did not deliver any lamproite material, the miner said. "While the trench sampling results indicate the LittleSpring Creek lamproite body is unlikely to be economic, the Brooking projecthas been proven to host source rocks with extremely high numbers of diamonds,"the company noted. The miner will drill a further two targets it had previouslyidentified, and will consider an additional three it discovered from surveys ofthe land. Lucapa's share price dropped 10% in early trading following the announcement. The company owns 80% of Brooking, with Leopold Diamond Company holdingthe remaining 20%. The lampoite field lies 50 kilometers north of the Ellendale mine, which is famous for its fancy-color yellow diamondsImage: Diamonds recovered from the Little Spring Creek bulk sample. (Lucapa Diamond Company)