Lucara Diamond Corp. has garnered $54 million from the sale of a 549-carat rough diamond, as well as another weighing 1,080.1 carats.
The miner recovered the 549-carat stone, named Sethunya, from its Karowe mine in Botswana in early 2020 before Louis Vuitton bought it later that year through Lucara’s offtake partnership with HB Antwerp. That agreement allows Lucara to benefit not only from the purchase price of the rough stone, but also from the polished proceeds after the diamond is sold. Lucara dug up the 1,080.1 diamond, named the Eva Star, in 2023.
“The sale of these two extraordinary diamonds further validates our investment in the Karowe underground project,” Lucara CEO William Lamb said Tuesday. “The unique characteristics of Karowe’s kimberlite, particularly in the south lobe, continue to amaze us with its ability to produce diamonds of exceptional size and quality. The mineralogy we’re seeing is truly unprecedented in the industry, consistently delivering type IIa diamonds of remarkable clarity and size.”
Although Lucara sold the stones a number of years ago and received its fee for the rough, it is only now realizing its full portion of the polished profits, it noted. It had already received $20 million in previous years, while the remainder came in two parts between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of this year.
It’s possible the delay in the second portion of the payment also stemmed from trouble between Lucara and HB in recent years. In September 2023, Lucara announced it was parting ways with the Belgian manufacturer and terminated the parties’ supply agreement, citing a “material breach of financial commitments.” In November of that year, it reiterated it was looking to form new supply deals. However toward the end of 2023, the media speculated that the Botswana government was pressuring Lucara to reconnect with HB, most likely in preparation for its January 2024 announcement that it would invest $65 million for a 24% stake in HB. In February of last year, Lucara announced it had signed a new 10-year contract with the manufacturer.
Image: The Eva Star (l) and Sethunya (r) diamonds. (Lucara Diamond Corp.)
