MOKHOTLONG-The Minister of Mining, Honourable Keketso Sello had a site visit at the recently graduated Mothae Kimberlite Mine located in the Mokhotlong district on 29th August, 2018.
The purpose of the visit was to bear witness and give blessing to the first collection of the Mothae`s finds from the bulk sampling during the trial stage.
It was the first time LUCAPA Diamond Company (Mothae Mine) was exporting diamonds to the global diamond marketing center of Antwerp in Belgium.
Before the export process could commence, Hon Sello personally witnessed how diamonds were sorted according to their size, clarity and color. The diamonds recovered from the bulk sampling programme augurs well for Mothae’s future success.
They include individual large yellow stones of up to 89 carats, along with Type IIA white diamonds, and pink diamonds including the micro diamonds.
The Minister strongly indicated that the public seems to be highly concerned about diamonds that are not being declared and recorded during the export. However, as a means of verification, he got engaged in the whole process until its finality.
Ultimately, he was convinced that there is crystal transparency in all the activities that are undertaken before the exportation mine products. “I have seen with my own eyes that every little diamond that is exported is well documented in the presence of a team of the involved stakeholder institutions.”
“Mothae will become the fourth commercial diamond mine in Lesotho and will add to our nation’s reputation as having the world’s highest average $ per carat diamond production,” said Hon Sello, nodding his head with a smile.
Lucapa Managing Director, Stephen Wetherall, said his company was proud to be playing a role in the continued development of Lesotho’s diamond mining industry and its economy.
“Lesotho is very highly-regarded in the global mining industry for its high-value diamond production and we, at Lucapa, are excited to be involved at Mothae,” said Mr. Wetherall.
“We look forward to a strong and prosperous partnership relationship with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho at Mothae, and to making an economic contribution which will benefit all the people of Lesotho,” said Mr. Wetherall as he continued.
The General Manager of Mothae Diamond Mine, Mr. Gideon Scheepers, took Honourable Minister, along with the government officials, on a site tour at which he was taken directly to where the new processing plant was being commissioned. Mr. Scheepers declared that the plant will ramp-up to full production by end of January 2019.
When fully operational, the Mothae Mine is expected to employ more than 250 employees and contractors during Phase 1.
In a nut-shell, Mothae Mine is located near the high dollar-per carat gem producer, Letšeng Diamonds in Mokhotlong. It was put up for sale by the Lesotho Government in February 2016 after prospective buyer, Paragon Diamonds Limited, failed to secure the requisite funding within the given time frame.
In April 2017, the Government awarded mining rights to the Australia based LUCAPA Diamond Company to develop the mine which had been idle since 2015.This company has completed the trial mining and currently at the commercial stage. In this venture LUCAPA holds 70% of shares while the Government of Lesotho has 30% shareholding.
Mothae Mine was acquired by LUCAPA Diamonds at the cost of US$9 million in 2017, and in order to commence their full scale operations, they have invested more than US$20 million for the construction of Phase One of the commercial and the bulk sampling operations.
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