Lulo Mine in Angola Yields 43-Carat Yellow Diamond

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Lucapa Diamond Co. provided this photo of the 43-carat yellow rough diamond it recently recovered from the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola. It’s the biggest gem-quality colored diamond on record from the mine.

JANUARY 19, 2018

Lucapa, Angola--Lucapa Diamond Co. Ltd. reported Wednesday it recently recovered a 43-carat yellow diamond from the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola.

It is the largest recorded gem-quality colored diamond found at the mine to date, topping the 39-carat pink unearthed in September 2016 by nearly 5 carats.

The yellow stone was recovered from Mining Block 8, which also just yielded a 116-carat diamond that Lucapa said is a boart (non-gem-quality) stone. The diamond was recovered through the XRT large-diamond recovery circuit installed at Lulo in late 2016. (The XRT, or x-ray transmission, sorters are being used by more diamond companies today because they help to prevent large diamonds from getting broken up during processing.)

The 116-carat stone is the tenth 100-carat-plus diamond found at Lulo to date, and the second one within the first three weeks of 2018. Last week, Lucapa reported finding a 103-carat light brown diamond at the mine.

The year has started out on a strong note for smaller diamond mining companies that depend heavily on large, high-value finds to keep their operations funded.

In addition to the 43-carat yellow and the 116-carat boart diamond, Lucapa has found a 103-carat and an 83-carat Type IIa diamond so far this year.

But the biggest find of 2018 to date belongs to Gem Diamonds, which announced this week the recovery of a 910-carat diamond, the fifth largest gem-quality diamond ever found. It came shortly after the mining company unearthed two Type IIa stones weighing more than 100 carats each at the same mine, Letšeng in Lesotho.

Lucapa, in conjunction with its partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P. (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, operates the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola and has a 70 percent stake in the Mothae kimberlite project in Lesotho, which is only about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from Letšeng.

Lucapa said previous trial mining at Mothae showed it to be a source of large, high-value diamonds. It remains on track to begin producing in the second half of 2018.

910-Carat Diamond Found in Lesotho

This photo from Gem Diamonds shows the 910-carat diamond just recovered from its Letšeng mine. Gem said it is the fifth largest rough gem-quality diamond ever mined, and the biggest stone found at Letšeng to date.

JANUARY 16, 2018

New York--Gem Diamonds Limited announced Monday the recovery of what it said is the fifth largest gem-quality diamond ever mined.

The 910-carat diamond was recovered from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho, in which Gem Diamonds holds a 70 percent stake. Letšeng is the highest dollar-per-carat kimberlite mine in the world.

The as-of-yet unnamed diamond is a D color, Type IIa stone, and the largest to be mined at Letšeng.

Gem Diamonds CEO Clifford Elphick said: “Since Gem Diamonds acquired Letšeng in 2006, the mine has produced some of the world’s most remarkable diamonds, including the 603-carat Lesotho Promise; however, this exceptional top quality diamond is the largest to be mined to date and highlights the unsurpassed quality of the Letšeng mine.

“This is a landmark recovery for all of Gem Diamonds’ stakeholders, including our employees, shareholders and the Government of Lesotho, our partner in the Letšeng mine.”

Recently, Gem Diamonds recovered two D-color, Type IIa diamonds fromLetšeng weighing more than 100 carats each.

Lulo Mine Delivers Ninth Diamond Over 100 Carats

Lucapa has announced the recovery of two large diamonds from its Lulo mine in Angola, a 103-carat light brown diamond (left) and 83-carat Type IIa diamond (right).

JANUARY 11, 2018

Lucapa, Angola--Lucapa Diamond Company has announced the recovery of its ninth diamond weighing over 100 carats from the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola.

The 103-carat diamond is light brown in color and was discovered at Mining Block 8, as was an 83-carat Type IIa stone.

In November, Lucapa discovered two “exceptional” Type IIa D color stones weighing 20 and 18 carats.

Along with partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P. and Rosas & Petalas, Lucapa began mining at Lulo in 2015. The 404-carat “4 de Fevereiro” diamond is the largest recovered there so far and the 27th largest diamond on record worldwide.

De Grisogono acquired the stone with Nemesis International, polished it and set it into a necklace, which sold at Christie’s last fall for $33 million, though its sale was not without controversy.

The Lulo Diamond Project is an alluvial deposit, and Lucapa said that it continues to search for the kimberlite source of the stones. The miner is currently using three drill rigs in its exploration.

Lucapa also said that after acquiring a 70 percent stake in the Mothae kimberlite project in Lesotho a year ago, it will go into production in the second half of 2018. A 150-ton-per-hour diamond treatment plan equipped with XRT technology is currently underway only 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) from Gem Diamond’s Letšeng mine, which is said to be the highest dollar-per-carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.

Just this week, Gem Diamonds announced the recovery of two D-color, Type IIa stones each weighing over 100 carats from the site.

Besides its venture into Lesotho, Lucapa is also actively exploring at its Brooking diamond project in the West Kimberley lamproite province of Western Australia and the Orapa Area F project in the Orapa diamond field in Botswana.

The miner will offer 25 “special” diamonds recovered from Lulo’s mining blocks 8 and 6 in its first sale of 2018, including a 129-carat and 78-carat diamond, both of which are D color, Type IIa stones.