Lucapa Diamond said it produced 3,089 carats between November and December 2018 at its 70 percent-owned Mothae mine in Lesotho. It processed 78,426 tonnes of kimberlite material from the South East domain during the ramp-up phase and the diamonds recovered included six stones weighing more than 10.8 carats.
These specials included D-colour white diamonds weighing 78 carats and 38 carats.
“Significantly, these recoveries produced a recovered grade of 3.94 carats per 100 tonnes for the quarter – more than double the resource and forecast grades of 1.92 cpht and 1.83 cpht respectively,” said Lucapa.
“The production of large diamonds has continued post-quarter end, with three specials recovered to date in January 2019 already.”
Meanwhile, Lucapa said diamond production from its 40%-owned Lulo alluvial project in Angola was 1% down to 5070 carats in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared with 5,127 carats produced, a year earlier.
The drop was attributed to the processing of gravels from lower-grade areas.
It said Lulo alluvial mining company SML achieved gross revenues of $6 million from the sale of two parcels of Lulo diamonds during the quarter averaging $1,118 per carat, taking calendar 2018 sales to $26.4 million at $1,313 per carat.
Lucapa also said that it had a cash balance of $8.2 million at the end of December, of which $4.3 million was held at corporate level and $3.9 million at Mothae.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
