Lucara Diamond is expecting revenue of between $150 million and $160 million from the sale of 400,000 to 420,000 carats of diamonds from the Karowe mine in Botswana this year.
It said in a statement that this projection was based on an assumption that it would hold two exceptional stone tenders.
Lucara said the building and commissioning of a plant upgrade would take place to improve large diamond recovery following continued occurrence of exceptional stones and to enable sustainable processing of harder ore in the south lobe.
“Lucara had a strong year in 2013, achieving its production and operating cost targets and exceeding forecast revenues following the recovery of a high proportion of large exceptional quality diamonds during the year,” said Lucara chief executive William Lamb. "In 2014 it is expected that the scheduled plant upgrade, largely funded from the company’s 2013 year-end cash balance will be completed and brought online to deliver sustainable diamond recovery for production of 2.5 million tonnes per annum for the remainder of the mine life. This upgrade will also include processes to ensure the safe recovery of the value driving large and exceptional diamonds of Karowe.”
The mine had been in production since May 2012.
As of December 2013, 5.5 million tonnes of waste had been removed to allow for the extraction of 3.9 million tonnes of ore, 2.4 million tonnes of which were processed, yielding 441,000 carats of diamonds from Karowe.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
