Angola recovers a 160 carat diamond
Lucapa Diamond and its partners, Endiama and Rosas & Petalas have announced the recovery of a 160-carat white Type IIa diamond by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo.
The 160-carat diamond is the 28th +100 carat diamond recovered at Lulo and was mined from the same alluvial mining block as the “Lulo Rose”, the 170-carat pink-coloured diamond recovered in July 2022. The 160-carat diamond is the 6th largest recovered at Lulo to date.
SML transitioned to the lezirias (flood plains) towards the end of the first half of 2022 (refer to ASX announcement 31 August 2022). Diamond recoveries have been strong with over 100
Specials (diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats) recovered in the last two months.
Lucapa has interests in two diamond-producing mines in Angola (Lulo, in which LOM holds 40%) and Lesotho (Mothae, in which LOM holds 70%). 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 Lulo mine has been in commercial production since 2015, while the Mothae mine commenced commercial production in 2019. In 2021, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Australian Natural Diamonds Pty Ltd, Lucapa completed the strategic and transformative acquisition of the Merlin Diamond Project, a historic Australian mine containing a 4.4 million carat JORC (2012) compliant Mineral Resource with significant exploration potential.
The company published an Updated Scoping Study re-enforcing the significant economic potential for a long-life mine at Merlin with a production target of 2.1 million carats. A feasibility study is expected to be completed by Q3 2022.
Mining Review Africa