Lucapa Sales Slip in Weak Market

Revenue decreased at Lucapa Diamond Company in the fourth quarter as demand for its rough slowed and prices dropped.

Sales from the company’s mines slipped 1% year on year to $40.8 million for the period, it reported last week. The average selling price slid 9% to $2,458 per carat, outweighing a 9% rise in volume to 16,600 carats.

At the company’s Lulo mine in Angola, revenue fell 4% to $34.9 million, with sales volume plunging 32% to 5,663 carats. During the quarter, the miner had two tenders of exceptional stones from the site. The first, held in Luanda in October by Angolan state trader Sodiam, featured seven high-value diamonds ranging from a 10-carat pink to a 180-carat white, type IIa stone, Lucapa noted. That tender, which included a 66-carat pink, fetched $15.7 million, at an average price of $29,401 per carat. At the second tender, in December, it sold four high-value diamonds weighing 41, 123, 208 and 235 carats for $17.1 million, at an average of $28,000 per carat.

Meanwhile, revenue from the Mothae mine in Lesotho rose 14% to $5.9 million, as a 27% drop in the average price to $541 per carat was more than offset by a 56% rise in sales volume to 10,947 carats.

Output from both mines rose 6% to 15,954 carats during the October-to-December period.

For the full year, group revenue grew 1% to $102.2 million. The average price climbed 7% to $1,682 carats, overshadowing a 6% drop in sales volume to 60,774 carats. Production for 2023 decreased 4% to 63,469 carats.

Lucapa holds 40% of Lulo and 70% of Mothae, with government and local entities controlling the rest. It also owns the Merlin mine and the Brooking Lamproite exploration in Australia, as well as the Orapa site in Botswana.