Lucara Diamond’s underground expansion project (UGP) at the Karowe mine in Botswana has been delayed by a year and a half, and the capital cost to complete it has gone up by $136 million.
The UGP, which seeks to extend mine life to at least 2040, will now only be finished by the first half of 2028 rather than the originally projected date of the second half of 2026.
As a result, estimated expenditures to finish the project rose by 25% to $683 million from the May 2022 estimated capital cost of $547 million.
Lucara said capital expenditures of $264.5 million had been incurred and capital commitments of $369.7 million had been made as of June 30, 2023.
“Schedule delays due to longer than anticipated grouting activity have impacted the project timeline, however, the grouting methodology selected has proven to be effective in controlling water inflows,” said company chief executive Eira Thomas.
“As we transition out of the sandstones early in the fourth quarter of 2023, we look forward to meeting planned sinking rates.”
Grouting programmes took longer than expected due to a combination of high-water volumes in the sandstone lithologies between 870 and 752 metres above sea level in depth (144 metres to 262 metres below the shaft collar) combined with technical challenges associated with the transition to main sinking.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
