Lucapa Diamond Company has unearthed a 25-carat yellow gem diamond in Lesotho. According to media reports, the stone was discovered at its 70%-owned Mothae mine during the first two days of trial processing at the project.
The company also added that the yellow diamond was unearthed from the Neck zone of the Mothae kimberlite. According to the statement released, this is not part of the current 1m carat Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant (JORC) resource. Aside from the colored stone, the trial processing also unearthed several other diamonds in excess of 5 carats from the Neck zone.
Furthermore, trial processing kicked-off after efficiency and security modifications. This saw 50,000 tonnes of bulk samples from the Neck, North and South East zones of the project stored in preparation for processing.
So far, Lucapa has fetched $1.7 million earlier on in the year from selling findings from its prolific Lulo mine in Angola. This after the mine yielded a 46-carat pink stone. This is said to be the largest coloured gem-quality rock ever recovered in Angola.
The Mothae project, which is also world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond operation, yielded a 910-carat rock in January this year. It was the fifth biggest gem-quality diamond ever found.
Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd is a global diamond company with several mining, development and exploration assets in Angola, Lesotho, Australia and Botswana. The Company’s focus on expanding high-value diamond production from multiple sources is designed to maximize cash generation in a sector of the global diamond market where pricing remains robust.
The company’s Lulo diamond project in Angola produces the world’s highest $ per carat alluvial diamond production. Lulo is a prolific producer of large and premium-value diamonds, with recoveries including 10 +100 carat diamonds and fancy colored gems of up to 43 carats. So far, the project has garnered over US$100 million in sales. It has also produced Angola’s two biggest recorded diamonds weighing 404 carats and 227 carats respectively.
