Lucapa Diamond Company has reported the first diamond recoveries from the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho which it owns in a 70:30 partnership with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho. These diamonds were sourced from residual material and kimberlite stockpiles that are not included in the Mothae JORC resource, the Company said.

The diamonds were recovered through the existing, and recently refurbished, bulk sampling plant and infrastructure at Mothae. The largest one recovered was 6.6 carats, Lucapa said.

Describing the bulk sampling programme through which the diamonds were recovered as one “designed to provide additional resource and diamond data to expand the life of mine, while also generating early cash flows”, Lucapa said that the diamonds were observed during a site visit to Mothae by Lucapa representatives, advisors, brokers and investors following the Mining Indaba Conference in Cape Town.

Construction of the new 150 tph processing plant at the site, including an XRT large-diamond recovery circuit, continues and remains on schedule for full commissioning and commercial production in H2 2018, Lucapa reported.

Pic caption: Selection of white stones (pre-acid) from the diamonds recovered in the first bulk sampling programme run at Mothae
Courtesy: Lucapa Diamond Company