Lucara Diamond Corp.  which had launched the first sale on its 100% owned digital sales platform Clara Diamond Solutions on November 30, 2018, announced yesterday that “final matching was completed on December 16, 2018”. The Company has thus completed its inaugural sale.

“The selection of rough diamonds offered in Clara's first sale included diamonds between 1 and 4 carats in size in the better colours and qualities from Lucara's Karowe mine as well as additional aggregated third-party rough,” the Company announced.  

Lucara reported that a total of seven manufacturers participated in the sale, five of whom matched and received their orders. 

“All told, diamonds successfully matched to orders generated revenue of US$ 660,865, achieving +8% over Lucara's market price and +15% over Lucara's reserve price for these goods,” Lucara said.  “Goods of approximately similar value have been set aside for the next sale, scheduled to take place later this month.”

Lucara intends to add diamonds   onto the platform gradually, in the coming weeks. The Company revealed that more manufacturers are now on board; and that it has also received orders for increased variety and sizes.   “In time, as supply and demand is optimised, Lucara will progress into continuous sales of appropriate, qualifying goods through Clara,” the Company stated. “Further, Lucara will continue to augment its overall sales strategy through a combination of Clara and its regular tender process.”   

Eira Thomas, CEO commented: "This trial sale marks a momentous milestone for Clara. On November 30, Clara successfully initiated its inaugural diamond sale with positive results, confirming that the platform is commercially viable.  Though we are delighted with the prices achieved for the rough diamonds sold in this first sale, Clara's longer-term value will be realised through its' scalability, increasing the volume of rough diamonds transacted by adding production from other global diamond producers. Onboarding of additional manufacturers is continuing and Lucara is in active discussion with a number of leading diamond producers who are also interested in trialing the platform in 2019.  We want to thank all of our partners for their enthusiasm and commitment to the trial, and for embracing the opportunity to innovate and modernize the diamond sales process to increase consumer confidence and unlock value for all participants in the value chain."

The first trial sale was conducted in partnership with a select group of large, vertically integrated jewellery houses and global diamond manufacturers. It was designed to demonstrate that “Clara can unlock significant value throughout the diamond pipeline, by facilitating rough diamond sales on a stone by stone basis, based on specific polished demand”. 

Clara plans to use the results of this inaugural sale to help optimise the quantity and selection of rough diamonds offered in the short term, as the platform moves into continuous sales and more participants are on-boarded.