Lucapa Diamonds – The Diamond Certification Laboratory of Australia (DCLA)

Lucapa Chief to Exit After Nearly a Decade

Nick Selby will take on the role of interim CEO at Lucapa Diamond Company when Stephen Wetherall steps down as managing director at the end of the month.

Selby, who has been with the miner since 2017, is currently executive director of operations. He will lead the company while it searches for a replacement, Lucapa said Monday.

Wetherall will continue to work with Lucapa as an independent consultant following his exit, helping to further the miner’s diamond marketing and downstream initiatives. He joined the company — which operates the Lulo mine in Angola and the Mothae deposit in Lesotho — in 2016. Wetherall was instrumental in creating a manufacturing deal with Graff unit Safdico, and in Lucapa’s acquisition of the Merlin diamond project in Australia.

“I have thrived on the challenges put to me by the board and shareholders,” said Wetherall in the Monday statement. “We have together navigated the company successfully through a difficult pandemic, repaid all the project interest-bearing debt, successfully delivered and expanded two mining operations now generating solid margins, positioned the company for growth with future production from Merlin, and our kimberlite exploration program at Lulo is at an advanced and exciting phase. This is an appropriate time for me to take on other challenges.”

Source: rapaport

Lucapa Recovers Another +100-ct Diamond at Lulo

Lucapa has recovered a 180.87-carat Type IIa white diamond at its Lulo alluvial mine, in Angola.

It’s the second +100 carat diamond of the year so far. In February it found a 150-carat Type IIa D-color white diamond.

And it’s the 37th +100 carat since since the Australian miner began commercial production at Lulo in 2015.

Last November the 170.2-carat Lulo Rose, believed to be the largest pink diamond found in the last 300 years, was sold at tender for an undisclosed sum.

Lucapa, which also operates the Mothae mine, in Lesotho, has reported encouraging exploration results from its ongoing exploration program to discover the primary kimberlite source at Lulo.

Pic of the 180.87-carat Type IIa white diamond, courtesy Lucapa

Souce: IDEX

Lucapa debt free as of July 4

ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company has fully repaid all interest-bearing loans that it borrowed from gold exploration and mining company Equigold and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC).

Lucapa has repaid the final instalment of $1.3-million in principal and interest on the original $15-million Equigold debt, which was raised in 2018.

In addition, Lucapa subsidiary Mothae Diamonds recently made its final interest payment of R7.3-million to the IDC, with the IDC loan now also fully repaid.

Lucapa is now interest-bearing debt free, having repaid about A$30-million in debt and interest over an 18-month period

The company said in a July 4 statement that it would seek to have all securities with respect to those loans released.

Lucapa owns the Lulo mine, in Angola, and the Mothae mine, in Lesotho, and is developing the Merlin project, in Australia. It also explores for diamonds in Australia, Angola, Botswana and Lesotho.

Source: miningweekly

Lucapa Diamond Company sells Lulo diamonds for A$30.1m

Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has sold seven diamonds from its Lulo mine in Angola for $30.1 million, equating to over $39,000 per carat.

The company and its partners, Endiama E.P. and Rosas & Petalas, placed the “special sized” diamonds on international tender earlier this month. Together, the diamonds weighed a combined 767 carats.

The sold diamonds include a 170-carat fancy-coloured diamond dubbed the ‘Lulo Rose’ alongside three white Type IIa diamonds of over 100 carats and three other special-sized white Type IIa stones.

In late September, Lucapa announced it had recovered its 30th diamond of over 100 carats from Lulo, which has been in commercial production since 2015.

The company kicked off commercial production from its Mothae mine in Lesotho in 2019.

Meanwhile, Lucapa said it was continuing to explore for potential primary-source kimberlites or lamproites with its partners across the Lulo concession in Angola, the Brooking project in Australia, and the Orapa Area F project in Botswana.

Source: The market herald

Lucapa’s Lulo Mine Turns Out 160ct. Rough

160-carat rough diamond. (Lucapa Diamond Company) — *160-carat rough. (Lucapa Diamond Company)*

Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered a 160-carat, high-quality rough from its Lulo mine in Angola, the sixth-largest stone the deposit has yielded.

The company found the type IIa diamond at the same alluvial mining block from which it unearthed a 170-carat pink — the Lulo Rose — in July, Lucapa said last week. The new addition marks the 28th diamond over 100 carats from Lulo.

Recently, Lucapa transitioned to mining rough from the lezirias, or flood plain area, of the site, which has led to the recovery of larger diamonds, it said. In the past two months, the miner has found more than 100 special stones — those weighing over 10.8 carats — at the deposit, including four type IIa rough diamonds weighing 99, 81, 74 and 66 carats.

Source: Diamonds.net

Lucapa says 204 carat diamond recovered at Mothae mine in Lesotho

Lucapa Diamond Company yesterday announced the recovery of a 204 carat diamond from the Mothae mine in Lesotho.

According to the company’s statement, the 204 carat white stone is the eighth +100 carat diamond and third +200 carat to be recovered from the Mothae mine since commercial mining commenced in January 2019, underlining its unique large stone nature.

Lucapa Diamond Company is an ASX listed diamond miner and explorer with assets in Africa and Australia. It has interests in two producing diamond mines in Angola (Lulo) and Lesotho (Mothae).

“The large, high-value diamonds produced from these two niche African diamond mines attract some of the highest prices per carat for rough diamonds globally,” the company said.

The Lulo mine has been in commercial production since 2015, while the Mothae mine commenced commercial production in 2019.

Source: kitco

Lucapa Sales Surge in Buoyant Market

Lucapa Diamond Company’s revenue rose in the third quarter amid strong demand and an increase in sales volume.

Sales from the miner’s Lulo deposit in Angola and Mothae in Lesotho soared 86% to $8.6 million for the three months ending September 30, it said last week. Sales volume jumped 57% to 15,690 carats, outweighing a 14% drop in the average price to $995 per carat.

“The market for diamonds continued to be buoyant in a constrained rough-supply environment,” said Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall. “As a result, we have upgraded our full-year guidance.”

Production from Lulo increased 1% year on year during the quarter to 9,444 carats, with the miner recovering 83 diamonds above 10.8 carats. The largest of those was a 94-carat, D-color, type IIa white stone. Lucapa also unearthed several fancy-pink diamonds during the quarter, it noted.

Output from Mothae came to 9,567 carats, with 60 diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats. The Australia-based miner recovered a 51-carat stone, along with a number of fancy-light pinks and yellows. Lucapa did not produce any rough from Mothae during the same period last year, as the site was on care and maintenance due to Covid-19-related regulations in Lesotho.

Lucapa has made progress toward satisfying the conditions for its acquisition of the Merlin mine in Australia. It believes the final outstanding conditions will be dealt with in the fourth quarter.

The company upgraded its guidance for the full year due to the strong demand. It expects revenue to be between AUD 66 million ($48.9 million) and AUD 71 million ($52.6 million), compared to the AUD 50 million ($37 million) to AUD 56 million ($41.5 million) it forecast in May.

The miner is also conducting exploration at the Brooking lamproite project in Australia and the Orapa site in Botswana.

Image: A selection of rough white, pink and yellow diamonds sold during the quarter.

Source: Diamonds.net

Lucapa acquires Merlin diamond project in Australia

*Merlin diamond mine in Australia’s Northern Territory.*

Lucapa Diamond announced that it has entered into a binding asset sale agreement for the acquisition of a 24km2 mining lease and a 283km2 exploration tenement encompassing the mining lease and associated equipment and assets the Merlin Assets from Merlin Operations Pty.

Merlin Operations is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merlin Diamonds Limited, which is in liquidation. The Merlin Tenements are located in the Northern Territory of Australia, approximately 720km southeast of Darwin.

Merlin is home to Australia’s largest mined rough diamond on record and has the potential to be the
only producing diamond mine in Australia, following the closure of Rio Tinto’s iconic Argyle mine in 2020, after 37 years in production.

The strategic acquisition is supported by a A$20 million ($15.5m) private placement plus a share purchase plan to raise up to A$3 million ($2.3m).

The acquisition price of A$8.5m cash represents a ~A$2/ carat multiple on Merlin’s existing 4.4m
carat JORC compliant resource and complements Lucapa’s existing portfolio, the company said, adding a near-term development opportunity with an existing 4.4m carat mineral resource estimate in Australia to Lucapa’s two existing producing assets in Angola and Lesotho.

The ~300km2 tenement package also comes with significant exploration upside, Lucapa said, through over 70 unresolved anomalies in areas where all kimberlite discoveries have been diamondiferous.

Source: Mining.com

Lucapa recovered a 100 carat diamond

Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners, Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P. and Rosas & Petalas, have recovered the 23rd rough diamond over 100 carats at the Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo from the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in Angola.

The 144 carat Type IIa D colour diamond was recovered from Mining Block 08, is the sixth 100 carat diamond recovered in 2021 so far and 23rd 100 carat stone recovered at Lulo since exploration and mining operations began.

Including the first 100 carat recovery from MB46 as 2020 ended, SML has now recovered seven 100 carat diamonds in a little over three months. With these 100 carat recoveries and the two Special pink diamonds in inventory, SML is well positioned to achieve record diamond revenues for the first half of 2021.

Source: miningreview

Three +100 carat diamonds recovered at Lucapa’s Lulo mine

Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners Endiama and Rosas & Petalas have announced the recovery of three +100 carat diamonds by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo from the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in Angola.

The 131-carat is a Type IIa D-colour diamond, the 118-carat is a brown diamond and the 133-carat stone is a lower-quality grey diamond.

Six +100 carat diamonds have been recovered from Mining Block 46 (MB46) in the last three months, reaffirming its recent elevation to the Lulo mining block with the best +100 carat diamond occurrence rate – one +100 carat diamond for every ~20,000 bcm’s of gravel.

The Canguige catchment and adjacent priority kimberlites are already the focus of the Project Lulo JV kimberlite exploration program, and the frequent recovery of large high-value diamonds underpins the prospectivity of this area.

Source: miningreview