Brazil's Bra??na Mine Bracing for Growth

RAPAPORT... Lipari Mining predicts sales from its Bra??na diamond mine in Brazil will rise 11% to $50.6 million this year, as it expects a rise in the recovery of large stones at the operation.The company achieved an average price of $201 per carat last year, but sees that jumping to $220 per carat in 2018, as it is commissioning a large-diamond recovery circuit this month."We expect to see an increase in the value of production through the addition of this circuit," the company said in a presentation. Approximately 4% of the mine's production is special-size diamonds, with the largest found so far weighing 180 carats, it added. Production at Bra??na began in July 2016, with 230,941 carats recovered in its first full year of operation in 2017. Lipari expects output to rise 1% to 234,000carats in 2018, as it is working to minimize the high breakage of diamonds that has so far weighed on the operation.  The mine has a pit-life prediction of sevenyears, though this could be extended as Lipari is assessing the possibility of transitioning to an underground-mining operation, it said.