Lucapa Diamond Company said that the Lulo diamond project in Angola reported a 27% increase in mining volumes to 72,671 bulk cubic metres during the quarter ended June 30, 2018. As a result, diamond production rose by 20% to 5,058 cts, the Company added, while releasing its production report for the period.

Between April and June recovery of specials (stones larger than 10.8 ct) was also with total weight of these large sizes rising by 18% over the earlier quarter, to 1 412 ct. These included the largest coloured diamond recovered to date from Lulo, at 46 ct, and three diamonds larger than 70 ct.

The gross revenue for the quarter was US$ 5 mn, indicating a per carat value of US$1,479.f During H1 2018 gross sales reached US$ 15.9 mn at US$1,642/carat

At the end of June, Lucapa had a diamond inventory of 2 766 ct, which included a number of large and high-value specials.