Lucara Digs Up Massive 1,305ct. Rough from Karowe

Lucara Diamond Corp. has recovered a huge rough diamond at its Karowe mine in Botswana, weighing 1,305.4 carats.

The company unearthed the “exceptional” stone with its Mega Diamond Recovery system, an X-ray technology that allowed it to retrieve the rough without breaking it, Lucara said Monday. The miner has categorized the stone as “white and unbroken.”

Lucara found the diamond while processing a blend of open-pit material and previously mined, unprocessed stockpiled ore, it explained. It is therefore unable to determine conclusively whether the diamond originated from current open-pit mining or from run-of-mine stockpiled material, it added.

The stone is the 10^th over 1,000 carats Lucara has unearthed since production at Karowe began. Other diamonds of that caliber include the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, the 1,094-carat Seriti, the 1,080-carat Eva Star and the 2,488-carat Motswedi.

“The recovery of our 10th diamond exceeding 1,000 carats is another extraordinary milestone for Karowe and further demonstrates the singular nature of this world-class ore body,” said Lucara CEO William Lamb. “No diamond mine in history has consistently produced diamonds of this magnitude, and Karowe continues to set itself apart on the global stage. Recoveries of this nature reinforce our confidence in the exceptional value potential of the resource and the continued development of the Karowe underground project.”

Image: The 1,305.4-carat diamond. (Lucara Diamond Corp.)