Lucapa restarts work at Lulo

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has restarted operations at its Lulo diamdond mine, in Angola.

Operations at Lulo were reduced in early April to only essential services after a State of Emergency was declared in Angola in order to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On April 24, a new Presidential Decree amended certain restrictions, allowing essential industries to return 50% of their employees to the workplace.

The miner on Friday said that Lulo will now resume mining and treatment operations on a two sift six-day week basis, with mining to be scaled to exceed 50% of nameplate capacity, which will position Lucapa to ramp up to full capacity once restrictions have been lifted completely.

“It is pleasing to be able to report that after four weeks of reduced activities at the Lulo mine, production is recommencing in a scaled manner, while ensuring the safety of the employees and contractors,” said MD Stephen Wetherall.

“Lucapa and its partners continue to work with leaders in our industry on innovative solutions to ensure that our mines receive the best possible value for their special product.”

In parallel with the restart workstreams, Lucapa is also exploring inventory financing solutions aimed at providing price protection in the current demand and price environment.