Lucara set to commission new diamond mine in Botswana

Lucara Diamond said it expect construction activities at its Karowe mine, in Botswana to complete within the first quarter of 2012, which give way to the commissioning of the plant.
It said in a statement emailed to Rough&Polished that the full plant commissioning would be completed in the second quarter of 2012 followed by the ramp-up to full production.
Lucara said diamond sales were forecast at 300,000 carats in 2012 achieving an annualised 400,000 carats per year.
First diamond sale were also expected during the second quarter of 2012, Lucara said, adding that operating costs of $20 per tonne were anticipated to be achieved by Q4 2012.
Construction financing and general working capital for the company was raised through a combination of equity and debt which includes the recently announced $25 million revolving credit facility with the Bank of Nova Scotia.
Meanwhile, Lucara said trial mining at Mothae diamond project, in Lesotho had to date exceeded expectations.
The trial mining programme involved the processing of 720,000 tonnes of kimberlite to establish operational and economic data for possible future mine development.
As of December 31, 2011, over 405,000 tonnes of kimberlite had been processed, yielding in excess of 13,220 carats.  
It said many of the stones recovered at Mothae had been large, high quality diamonds including several Type IIa’s.  
The company also completed two sales of Mothae diamonds during the year 2011, earning gross proceeds of $14.6 million (average $881/carat).   

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished