Lucara Diamond Corp. last week reported its third quarter 2012 results. The company’s EBITDA for the quarter was a loss of $2.3 million.
Lucara Diamond Corp. completed two diamond sales at Karowe totalling 88,579 carats during the third quarter resulting in proceeds of $19.9 million, according to press release e-mailed to Rough&Polished.
The company declared commercial production at Karowe as at July 1, 2012 and successfully achieved design throughput by August.
At Mothae, a September sale of 4,657 carats resulted in proceeds of $1.5 million. The trial mining program was completed in September and work advanced on its preliminary economic assessment due to be completed during the first quarter of 2013.
William Lamb, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented the results: "We are pleased with performance during the past quarter, having successfully achieved design capacity at Karowe and completing two diamond sales at an average diamond sales price of $225 per carat. We are focused on performance and cost control, which resulted in a cash operating margin of 46% for our September sale with operating expenses of $107 per carat. While the rough diamond market remains challenging, we are pleased with Karowe's pace and stage of development and we continue to improve production while maintaining our outstanding safety record with zero lost time injuries this year."
Lucara stated that it will continue to mine and process ore at Karowe project in 2012 to achieve a targeted production of 270,000 carats and sales of approximately 230,000 carats.
The company anticipates holding two further diamond sales in late November and mid December 2012 with viewings being conducted in both Gaborone and Antwerp.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
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