Four Large Lulo Diamonds Bank $17M for Lucapa

Lucapa Diamond Company sold four special-size rough stones with a total weight of 609 carats for $17 million at a recent tender in Angola.

The type IIa diamonds, which weighed 41.23, 123.83, 208.78 and 235.47 carats, were recovered from Lucapa’s Lulo alluvial mine in Angola, the miner said Monday. They were part of a tender by Sodiam, Angola’s national diamond-trading company.

The 235-carat stone, which Lucapa unearthed last month, is the second-largest Lulo has yielded. Meanwhile, the 208-carat, retrieved in October, achieved the highest price of all four diamonds, Lucapa noted. The entire parcel averaged $28,000 per carat.

“The outcome of this tender is very encouraging as it once again clearly indicates the strength of the market for these exceptional, rare and high-value stones of which Lulo is a consistent producer,” said Lucapa managing director Nick Selby. “This is a positive result for Lucapa in a year when the diamond industry generally suffered weakness in pricing. With India about to resume rough-diamond imports and Russian diamonds potentially having a restricted flow into the market in 2024, we are optimistic that we will see improvement and stability in diamond prices across all sectors of the market in the new year.”

Sodiam’s tenders generally include rough from Lulo, as well as from the Catoca and Luele mines.