In little over four years, since commercial alluvial diamond production commenced in January 2015 at its first project – Lulo diamond mine – in Angola, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited has gone on to commence operations at another location – Mothae in the Kingdom of Lesotho – and it has a clutch of exploration projects on hand too.

For the quarter ended March 31, 2019, Lucapa reported an “exceptional performance” at the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho in its first full quarter of production.

Mining is carried out under the Mothae Diamonds (Pty) Ltd (Lucapa 70% owner; and Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho 30% shareholder).

Here, the Company recovered 6,918 carats of diamonds in the quarter, which was 54% ahead of the plan; it achieved an average diamond grade of 2.44 carats per 100 tonnes – 29% ahead of plan; treated 283,042 tonnes – 20% ahead of plan; and achieved an average plant operating rate of 173 tonnes per hour – 15% ahead of plan.

Lucapa said that amongst the recoveries were 138 stones of over 4.8 carats; including 42 specials and rare Type IIa and IIb diamonds.

“The Specials included three +50 carat diamonds (the largest being 83 carats), taking to five the number of +50 carat stones recovered to date from the new Mothae commercial plant and the earlier bulk sampling programme,” the Company elaborated.

Lucapa also successfully held the first commercial tender for run of mine goods, in Antwerp.

“The parcel of 5,411 carats included diamonds recovered during the plant ramp-up phase in Q4 2018 and in the first month of commercial mining operations in January 2019,” the Company revealed. “The parcel sold for a total of US$ 3.8 million (A$ 5.3 million). This represented an overall average price per carat of US$ 707 (A$ 987) for the total parcel. The highest price achieved for an individual diamond was >US$ 36,000 per carat.”

At the close of the quarter, Mothae had a closing diamond inventory of 4,552 carats. Lucapa has announced that the next sale of Mothae diamonds is scheduled for Q2 2019 in Antwerp.

The Lulo project in Angola – mined by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML) in which  Lucapa is a 40% associate and operator – the Company stresses is “the world’s highest US$ per carat alluvial diamond producer. Here too, performance levels were high.

While there was a 90% increase in in-situ carats in the JORC classified Lulo alluvial diamond resource, the wet-season plant treatment processed a record of 73,257 bulk cubic metres (124,537 tonnes).

Lulo also saw its first “historic” sale of diamonds via international tender. Moreover, the Company has now confirmed the presence of 71 kimberlites in its in latest hard-rock drilling campaign, of which further mineral chemistry results are pending, the Company reported.

“The March Quarter marked an historic occasion for the Lulo mine and the Angolan diamond sector when the first sale of diamonds was conducted via international tender under the new diamond marketing reforms enacted by the Angolan President, His Excellency Joao Lourenco,” Lucapa noted.

The seven large and top-quality Lulo diamonds weighing 498 carats offered for sale in the electronic tender achieved total highest bids of US$ 16.7 million (A$ 22.9 million), representing an average price of US$ 33,530 per carat, the Company stated.

SML treated 73,257 bulk cubic metres (bcm) of alluvial gravels during the Quarter, which was up 18% on the previous corresponding period and a wet-season record. However, diamond production for the quarter which totalled 3,369 carats, was 25% below the previous corresponding quarter. This was attributed by the Company to a high proportion of plant throughput earlier being sourced from higher grade mining blocks. “Mining during the current Quarter focused predominantly on lower grade mining areas,” the Company clarified.

A total of 92 diamonds of over 4.8 carats were recovered during the quarter, including 31 specials (more than 10.8 cts). “The largest special was a top-colour 128 carat stone – the 12th +100 carat diamond recovered to date at Lulo,” Lucapa disclosed, adding that coloured recoveries of note during the quarter included a 7.5 carat fancy purple pink gem.

SML’s diamond inventory at the end of the quarter stood at 4,871 carats, almost five times the 976 carat quarter-end inventory held in the previous corresponding period. This diamond inventory will be sold in Q2 2019.

With a clear, stated focus on high-quality production Lucapa avers that it is designed “to maximise revenues in a niche high-end sector of the global diamond market where demand and pricing remain robust”.

Lucapa also has exploration projects in Angola (Lulo kimberlite exploration), Australia (Brooking), and Botswana (Orapa Area F).

 Pic Cap: The 1.1Mtpa Mothae treatment plant, which delivered an exceptional performance in its first full quarter of production

Pic Courtesy: Lucapa Diamond Company Limited