Lucara Diamond Corp. has issued a strong full-year revenue and production forecast as it moves to mining the majority of its ore from the higher-value portions of the Karowe deposit in Botswana.
The miner believes its revenue will reach between $195 million and $225 million in 2025, compared with its revised guidance of $160 million and $180 million for 2024, it said Wednesday. Output for next year will come to 360,000 to 400,000 carats, while sales volume is expected to range from 400,000 to 420,000 carats. The increased expectation for revenue is also due to the company’s improved recovery of larger stones, which fetch higher prices, it noted.
Outlay for the company’s underground project during the year will be up to $115 million, compared with $80 million in 2024. Some of those funds are due to a partial deferral of costs to next year from the current year.
“For 2025, the company’s revenue forecast assumes that 79% of the carats recovered will come from the higher-value M/PK(S) and EM/PK(S) units within the south lobe [and] the sale of its diamond inventory, and the remaining carats recovered come from the center lobe,” the company explained. “South lobe material, while lower grade than the center and north lobes, has a higher weight percentage of stones greater than 10.8 carats in size.”
Image: Ore processing at the Karowe mine. (Lucara Diamond Corp.)
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