Lucapa’s Mine Resource Estimate for Mothae Climbs

RAPAPORT… Diamond resources at Lucapa Diamond Company’s Mothae mine in Lesotho are 280% higher than it originally estimated, it said Thursday.

The increase is due to the new commercial processing plant the miner has installed at the deposit, noted Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall. The company has raised its assessment of the volume of indicated diamonds — those known based on drilled areas — by between 210,000 and 280,000 carats. It has also increased its estimate of the number of combined indicated and inferred stones — those thought to be present based on the indicated diamonds — by between 200,000 and 1.2 million carats.

However, the miner has also reduced the average price it expects to receive from its rough to $601 per carat from the original estimate of $1,063 per carat it reported in 2017. The lowered figure takes into account the sizes recovered and average price achieved for rough at the mine in the last 16 months. It also factors in the current situation in the diamond market, Wetherall told Rapaport News.

Last month, Lucapa reported it planned to expand Mothae over the course of three or four months, with the expansion likely to increase output at the mine by 60%.

“The increase in tonnes and carats…at an estimated diamond value of $635 per carat strongly supports an expansion in production at Mothae that the partners are considering,” Wetherall added.

Image: A rough diamond from Mothae. (Lucapa Diamond Company)