Lucapa Diamond Company adds another high carat diamond to its growing inventory

Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company (ASX: LOM) has delivered another sparkler for its shareholders after announcing the discovery of a 114-carat diamond from the Lulo diamond project in Angola.

Lucapa is currently advancing the project alongside project partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes E.P. and Rosas & Petalas.

The 114-carat diamond was recovered from alluvial Mining Block 6 and is the 11th 100-plus carat diamond recovered to date.

So far this year, Lucapa has discovered three outstanding large diamonds and says the consistent spate of discoveries “underlines the special large-stone nature of the Lulo diamond concession.”

The company’s flagship asset is Lulo, which is a prolific producer of large and premium-value alluvial diamonds.

In May this year, Lucapa unearthed a 46-carat pink diamond from Lulo.

This latest 114-carat diamond adds to a significant inventory of large diamonds currently held for later sale by Lulo mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo.

Lucapa owns 40% of Lulo alluvial mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo, which has produced 5,058 carats of diamonds during the last quarter alone – an increase of 20% on a year-on-year basis.

According to a statement earlier this year, Lulo continued to produce large and premium-value diamonds, with the number of “special diamonds” recovered up 7% to 61, bringing to 118 the total number of specials produced in the first half of this year (up 24%).

Lucapa’s other interests

In addition to its operations in Angola, Australia and Botswana, Lucapa is also making great strides to extend its presence in Lesotho. Lucapa has acquired a 70% interest in the Mothae kimberlite project in the region.

The Mothae kimberlite pipe is a high-quality diamond resource located within 5km of Letšeng, the highest US dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.

Lucapa is constructing a 150 tonne per hour (90,000t per month) diamond treatment plant, complete with XRT recovery technology under its phase one development program and is scheduled to commence high-value production at Mothae later this year.

A bulk sampling plant has also been refurbished and Lucapa has commenced testing areas of the kimberlite pipe either not included in the JORC resource or where additional sampling is required.

According to Lucapa, several large diamonds including two yellows weighing 89 carats and 25 carats have already been recovered from these areas in the bulk sampling program.

Lucapa is also furthering two exploration projects in known diamond provinces.

This includes an extensive exploration program launched at Brooking in the west Kimberley lamproite province in Western Australia to follow up on the discovery of lamproite with high concentrations of micro and macro diamonds.

The company also scheduled to drill its kimberlite targets at the Orapa Area F project in Botswana’s Orapa diamond field in the second half of this year.

By mid-morning trade, Lucapa’s share price had lifted almost 2% to A$0.27.