Africa-Press – Botswana. Lucara Diamond Corporation has announced the recovery of a weighty 1080.1 carat diamond Karowe Diamond Mine, making it the fourth gem over 1 000 carats the company has recovered since 2015.
In a press release, president and chief executive officer of Lucara Diamond, Ms Eira Thomas says the company is pleased by the recovery of another large, high quality gem diamond.
“As we progress mining deeper and transition from open pit to underground mining, in the South Lobe, the preponderance of large, high value stones is increasing which is consistent with the resource model and underpins the strong economic rationale for investing in the underground expansion that will extend the mine-life out to at least 2040,” says the release.
Further, the release says the 1080.1 carat diamond represents the fourth diamond weighing 1 000 carat diamond recovered from the South Lobe of the AK6 kimberlite known as Karowe mine.
It says other notable recoveries from the Karowe mine include the 1109 carat Lesedi La Rona in 2015 and the 1 758 carat Sewelo in 2019.
A recent study by Botswana Geoscientists Association has positioned Karowe mine as one of the world’s top diamond producers by value.
Therefore, the mine is an existing conventional drill and blast open pit operation, with diesel excavators and trucks providing an average annual 2.6 million tonnes of kimberlite feed to the mill.
The release says the open pit mine operation is expected to terminate mid-2026 as the mine transform into underground expansion project.
As such the underground expansion project is expected to extend the mine life to 2040 mining predominately from the high value Eastern Magmatic/Pyroclastic Kimberlite (EM/PK(S)) unit, with a forecast to contribute approximately P52 billion of additional revenue.
It is the first diamond mining operating in Botswana to convert from open pit to underground mining and will require new skills sets and substantial investments estimated at P5 billion.
The latest financial results from the Lucara Botswana for the quarter ending March 31, 2023 indicate that the company recovered a total of 89 640 carats, an increase from 83,917 carats from quarter 1 of 2022.
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