Australia’s Lucapa Diamond has managed to acquire US $2m after selling diamonds found at its Lulo mine in Angola. Lucapa sold 1,782 carats at an average price of US $1,150 per carat in conjunction with its partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes and Rosas & Petalas.
This prolific sale has served to propel Lulo’s gross sales to US $15.9m. This is at an average price of US $1,642 per carat. The project is located 150km from Alrosa’s Catoca mine. Catoca mine is currently the world’s fourth largest diamond mine, hosting type-2a diamonds which are known to account for less than 1% of global supply.
Lucapa has a 35-year license for Lulo. Last year, the mine bore a 404.2-carat white diamond, considered the largest diamond ever recovered in Angola. It is also the biggest diamond ever found by an Australian company.
Angola currently holds 4th place among the world’s diamond producers. This is by value and 6th by volume.
Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd is a growing, diversified miner and explorer with a portfolio of high-quality diamond assets across four well-established diamond-producing countries in Africa. The Company mainly focuses on expanding high-value diamond production from multiple sources. This is with a purpose to maximize cash generation.
The Lulo diamond project in Angola is Lucapa’s flagship project, producing the world’s highest $ per carat in alluvial diamond production. The mine’s diamond recoveries include 10 +100 carat diamonds as well as fancy coloured gems of up to 43 carats.
So far, Lulo has achieved more than US $100m in sales. It has also produced Angola’s two biggest recorded diamonds weighing 404 carats and 227 carats respectively. The Lulo partners are also well advanced with a systematic drilling and sampling program to locate the primary kimberlite sources of the exceptional alluvial diamonds.
