Lucara Diamond Corp announced yesterday that it has recovered a 123 carat gem quality top white Type IIa diamond from its 100% owned Karowe Diamond Mine located in Botswana, taking the year to date large stone tally to 22 diamonds of +100 carats, including six stone of +200 carats.

The 123 carat diamond was recovered from direct milling ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe, Lucara said. This unit has also delivered several other high value diamonds including the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona, the 813 carat Constellation and the recently recovered 1,758 carat Sewelô, and is an important economic driver for the underground feasibility study which is currently underway and scheduled for completion in Q4 later this year.

A 375 carat gem quality diamond was also recently recovered at Karowe from the processing of historic DMS recovery tailings, generated prior to the incorporation of Lucara’s XRT diamond recovery circuits, the company stated.

Karowe continues to have strong production performance year to date, with recovery from direct milling ore of 22 individual, +100 carat diamonds, including six greater than 200 carats, and the historic 1,758 carat Sewelô diamond, the largest ever diamond to be recovered in Botswana.

The company said that re-processing of historic DMS recovery tailings (pre-XRT circuit) is ongoing. This does not displace direct feed ore, but rather supplements overall production. Year to date, from all processing, the mine has produced 29 diamonds > 100 carats, including 8 diamonds > 200 carats.

On August 29, Lucara closed its third diamond tender sale of the year. Despite challenging market conditions, the tender was extremely well attended with a total of 123 companies attending and 47 companies winning one or more tender lots. In the three completed tenders of the year a total of 19 diamonds have sold for in excess of US$ 1 million, including seven > US$ 2 million and one for > US$ 8 million. Revenue received was in line with expectations and in line with the Company meeting the yearly guidance of US$ 170 to US$ 200 million in revenue.

Eira Thomas, Lucara’s CEO commented: “Lucara is pleased with the continued strong performance of the mine and the consistent recovery of large, high quality diamonds that contribute more than 70% of Lucara’s total revenues. Attendance at our sales remains high, a testament to our well-established client base and Karowe’s production profile, which continues to be well regarded and sought after in the marketplace. This is further evidenced by our growth with the client base for Clara which has grown from 4 to over 20 customers since the beginning of the year. Ramp up continues on plan, with transactions now occurring bi-weekly.”