Apologies missed this write up from a few days back, maybe...

Apologies missed this write up from a few days back, maybe posted by another resident here


Lucapa Diamond kimberlite bulk sample facility fully commissioned

https://goldinvest.de/weitere-meldu...probenanlage-vollstaendig-in-betrieb-genommen


At the Lulo mine in Angola, Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd. ( ASX: LOM, FSE: NHY )together with its partners completed the kimberlite bulk sample facility and is now fully operational. Two kimberlite samples are to be processed and analyzed for their diamond content every six weeks.

The free-standing facility will allow partners to significantly accelerate kimberlite sampling and processing. The goal in processing each sample will be to recover commercial-size diamonds while evaluating the commercial potential of the kimberlite under study.

This is a crucial step not only for the further development of the Lulo mine itself, but for the entire diamond industry in Angola, because the main goal of Lucapa Diamond and its partners is to find primary diamond deposits.

The discovery of a primary well would change everything for Lucapa Diamond

Measured by the value of the diamonds mined in the country, Angola has meanwhile become the fourth largest diamond producer in the world. In the country, stones are mined from both primary and secondary sources. However, the primary sources for the alluvial diamonds mined in Angola from the secondary sources have not yet been discovered anywhere in the country.

Finding such a primary source for alluvial diamonds would be like winning the lottery for Lucapa Diamond and its partners. Should it come about one day, the extremely interesting project that the Lulo mine already is will become a veritable money-making machine. Accordingly, Lucapa Diamond and its partners have a great desire to find the first primary source for alluvial diamonds in Angolo on their own project.

The starting position on Lulo is excellent

There is a good chance of one day achieving this goal as the property covers over 3,000 km² and to date 15 kimberlites have been discovered which are high on the priority list for sampling by the now operational facility. However, it cannot be expected that every collective sample will be processed successfully and contain the hoped-for diamonds.

Likewise, don't expect the bulk samples to produce disappointment after disappointment, as the exceptional size and quality of the alluvial diamond discoveries at Lulo suggest that the source for all of these diamonds is nearby. The observation that the stones found on Lulo so far show only a very slight deformation points in the same direction. This suggests that the diamonds traveled a relatively short distance from their source to where they were found and that Mother Nature did not have the time or opportunity to deform and 'work' the stones very much.

Another factor that increases the likelihood of finding a primary source is the number of 560 geological anomalies that have now been identified on the Lulo property. 150 drill holes drilled on them confirmed the discovery of 124 kimberlites. This high hit rate also supports the assumption that at least one primary source of diamonds is to be found on the Lulo concession.

Industry giants De Beers and Rio Tinto are drawn to Angola

Diamonds mined at Lulo command the highest prices per carat in the world for alluvial stones from secondary diamond sources. This was due in part to the 29 diamonds weighing over 100 carats and the more than 1,800 diamonds weighing at least 10.8 carats that have been mined at Lulo since production began around eight years ago.

The extent to which stones of this size catapult a company into another league can be seen in the fact that the average price for a diamond weighing more than 10.8 carats is currently over US$140,000 per diamond.

So it is not surprising that the heavyweights of the diamond industry have Angola back on their list and are looking for new fields of activity in the country. Both Anglo American subsidiary De Beers and Rio Tinto recently secured new diamond exploration concessions in Angola.

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Background
Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd. (ASX: LOM, FSE: NHY) is a mining company listed in Australia and Germany, which specializes in the production of high-quality and therefore also very high-priced diamonds. Lucapa Diamond therefore achieves the highest remuneration per carat in alluvial diamond mining worldwide. More than 75 percent of the revenue now comes from the sale of diamonds weighing more than 4.8 carats. Production takes place in the Mothae mine in Lesotho and since 2015 also in the Lulo mine in Angola. In addition, the Merlin project is being developed in Australia. As a kimberlite mine, the Mothae mine is one of the very few occurrences of this class worldwide and is already profitable. Since then, more than 23 diamonds weighing more than 100 carats have been mined at the Lulo mine, which has been in operation since 2015. In 2021, Lucapa benefited from the significant rebound in diamond prices and some particularly large stones mined at the Lulo mine.

by axinocapital