Lucara recovers 472 ct diamond at Karowe

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – TSX-listed Lucara Diamonds has recovered a 472 ct, top light brown gem diamond in Botswana.

It is the third largest diamond recovered from the company’s 100%-owned Karowe diamond mine.

In 2015, the Canadian firm discovered the 1 109 ct Lesedi La Rona and the 812.77 ct dimoand named The Constellation. The Lesedi La Rona sold for $53-milllion, or $47 777/ct in September 2017, while The Constellation fetched $63.11-million, or $77 649/ct in May 2016.

“Mining at Karowe is focused in the high value south lobe, which consistently delivers large, high quality diamonds in excess of 10.8 ct in size,” CEO Eira Thomas said in a statement on Thursday.

He added that Lucara would continue to focus on increasing value at Karowe, where a prefeasibility study assessing the potential for going underground and extending mine life from 2026 to 2036 was under way and progressing on schedule for completion towards year-end.

In February, Lucara also announced the acquisition of Clara, a secure, digital, rough diamond sales platform that combines proprietary analytics with existing cloud and blockchain technologies to modernise the current diamond supply chain. 

“Commercialisation work has since started, under a budget of approximately $2-million, and is tracking on schedule for implementation using diamonds from Karowe, beginning in August,” Thomas noted.