Lucapa Sales Surge in Buoyant Market

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company's revenue rose in the third quarter amid strong demand and an increase in sales volume.Sales from the miner's Lulo deposit in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho soared 86% to $8.6 million for the three months ending September 30, it said last week. Sales volume jumped 57% to 15,690 carats, outweighing a 14% drop in the average price to $995 per carat. "The market for diamonds continued to be buoyant in a constrained rough-supply environment," said Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall. "As a result, we have upgraded our full-year guidance."Production from Lulo increased 1% year on year during the quarter to 9,444 carats, with the miner recovering 83 diamonds above 10.8 carats. The largest of those was a 94-carat, D-color, type IIa white stone. Lucapa also unearthed several fancy-pink diamonds during the quarter, it noted. Output from Mothae came to 9,567 carats, with 60 diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats. The Australia-based miner recovered a 51-carat stone, along with a number of fancy-light pinks and yellows. Lucapa did not produce any rough from Mothae during the same period last year, as the site was on care and maintenance due to Covid-19-related regulations in Lesotho.Lucapa has made progress toward satisfying the conditions for its acquisition of the Merlin mine in Australia. It believes the final outstanding conditions will be dealt with in the fourth quarter.The company upgraded its guidance for the full year due to the strong demand. It expects revenue to be between AUD 66 million ($48.9 million) and AUD 71 million ($52.6 million), compared to the AUD 50 million ($37 million) to AUD 56 million ($41.5 million) it forecast in May. The miner is also conducting exploration at the Brooking lamproite project in Australia and the Orapa site in Botswana.Image: A selection of rough white, pink and yellow diamonds sold during the quarter. (Lucapa Diamond Company)