Lucara Diamond has accrued $6.5 million from the second auction of diamonds from its Karowe mine, in Botswana.
The diamond junior said in a statement emailed to Rough&Polished that a total of 35 individual lots containing 36,842 carats were put up for sale, of which 32 lots were sold.
Lucara said as expected the bidding for high-color, high-quality diamonds were particularly soft and three lots of these goods were withdrawn from the sale.
“Notwithstanding the soft markets, the company is very pleased with the reception our diamonds are receiving,” said Lucara chief executive William Lamb.
“In less than four months since our first ore run, our diamonds have brought in revenues of over $12 million.”
He said like other diamond companies, Lucara anticipated an improvement in the diamond market in the latter part of the year.
Meanwhile, the diamond junior said that the production ramp-up at Karowe was also making progress.
More than 310 000 t had been processed to date yielding more than 87 000 carats, it said
Lucara also said that the optimisation of the mine dewatering system was nearing completion and this would further improve plant throughput for the remainder of the year.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
