Awards Section: Excellence in Diamonds...

Awards Section: Excellence in Diamonds

https://www.miningreview.com/awards-section-excellence-diamonds/

WINNER: LUCAPA DIAMOND CORPORATION

Within the junior space, Lucapa Diamond Corporation has established itself as a force to be reckoned with.

Not only is it recovering high value diamonds from its alluvial Lulo diamond mine in Angola, but has built its second project, Mothae, in Lesotho.

This article first appeared in Mining Elites in Africa 2019
Lucapa’s Lulo project in Angola has produced 11 +100 carat diamonds to date and is the highest US$ per carat alluvial diamond producer in the world.

Lulo has produced Angola’s two biggest recorded diamonds weighing 404 carats and 227 carats respectively.

Lucapa and its Lulo partners are also conducting a continuous kimberlite drilling programme to identify the source or sources of the exceptional alluvial diamonds.

Should it succeed it will uncover a very rich kimberlite mine.

Its efforts in this regard are worth acknowledging.

In diamond-rich Lesotho, Lucapa has constructed a new 1.1 Mtpa process plant for its 70%-owned Mothae kimberlite project, which commenced commercial diamond production in November 2018.

This is a mine which sat in Lucara’s portfolio for years – and was never moved into execution phase.

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

Lucapa has already recovered large diamonds, including 89 carat and 25 carat yellows, from a bulk sampling program at Mothae.

In Botswana, Lucapa is seeking approvals to drill kimberlite targets at the Orapa Area F project within the prolific Orapa diamond field.

Judges’ comments:
Jim Pooley: “One mine put into operation and one mine in construction while also undertaking additional exploration at the operation to expand resources and extend life of mine is noteworthy. The company is well-run and doing the right thing.”

Marcus Courage: “A strong business that is building good pipeline.”