Lucapa Diamond says the alluvial exploration activities undertaken in 2023 increased the Lulo alluvial resource in-situ carats by 48% to 228,400 carats after accounting for mining depletion of 30,585 carats.
The Lulo alluvial resource was independently estimated and reconciled on a depletion and addition basis to 31 December 2023 by external consultants, Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants.
It said to date, about 200,000 carats of diamonds have been recovered on the Lulo concession and sold by Sociedade Mineira do Lulo (SML) for about $426 million, at an average price of $2,122 per carat.
Lucapa said diamond valuations have been affected by a softening in diamond prices in 2023.
“The modelled diamond value has been escalated using a global rough diamond price index provided by GTD Consultants, an independent diamond valuation consultancy, up to 31 December 2023,” it said. “The modelled diamond values have decreased by [about] 5% from $2,000 per carat to $1,897 per carat on average.”
Meanwhile, Lucapa said sales of Lulo diamonds totalled $77.3 million in 2023 at an average diamond price of $2,700 per carat.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
