Lucapa Diamond Company today announced that it had been awarded the Mothae Kimberlite Project by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho. With this, Lucapa takes a 70% stake in Mothae Diamond (Pty) Limited (MDL) with the Lesotho government holding the balance 30%. Lucapa will also get a new 10-year mining licence covering the Mothae kimberlite area, with a right to extend it by another 10 years.

The 70% stake in MDL was acquired for a sum of US$ 9 million, payable over 10 months.

The Mothae kimberlite is well-situated lying as it does near three diamond mines including the Letseng diamond mine.  

Moreover, MDL has infrastructure – including a diamond processing plant -- and a camp in place. The Mothae kimberlite is said to have indicated and inferred resources of 1 million carats. Trial mining at the mine has indicated that the kimberlite hosts “large, premium value and Type IIa diamonds, including individual stones up to 254 carats and gem-quality diamonds which have sold for up to US$ 41,500 per ct,” Lucapa stated.  

The Company believes that the mine’s production will be a good fit with its existing Lulo Mine which also produces high-value diamonds.

Lucapa says it plans to bring the Mothae mine into production within 12 months under    a “staged low-risk development strategy”.

Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall commented: “The market pricing and demand levels for such high-value stones remains robust, thus protecting the ability of large stone producing kimberlite projects like Mothae, to sustain strong operating cash flows.”