Lucapa Diamond Company Limited and partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P. and Rosas & Petalas have announced the recovery of the 19th +100 carat diamond by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML) from the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in Angola.
The 114 carat Type IIa D-colour white diamond is the third +100 carat diamond recovered from Mining Block 46 (MB46) in the last eight weeks [1].
The frequency of recovery of these stones, highlights the prospectivity of the Canguige catchment and adjacent priority kimberlites.
To date, MB46 has averaged one +100 carat diamond recovered for every roughly 33,000 billion cubic metres of gravel processed. This is the best occurrence rate for any block mined to date at Lulo, including the prolific MB08.
Lucapa advised that preparations are underway to continue bulk sampling the priority kimberlites as the wet season draws to a close.
Earlier this week, Lucapa and its partners also announced the results of the second diamond sale of 2021 by SML from the Lulo mine. The rough diamond parcel of 1,040 carats was sold for a total of A$4.6 million or A$4,457 per carat.
Lucapa’s Managing Director, Stephen Wetherall, commented: “This is our third run of mine rough parcel sold this calendar year from our two mines and we continue to see good prices for our premium production.”
Aggregated sales from the Lulo alluvial mine and Mothae kimberlite mine (on a 100 per cent basis) in calendar year 2021 amount to A$19.5 million from 9,989 carats at A$1,950 per carat.
[1] Refer ASX releases, 4 January 2021 and 18 January 2021.