Lucapa Diamond Company Limited   announced today that it had recovered a 25 carat yellow gem diamond from the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho, where it is in a joint venture with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho.

The yellow stone was amongst the  diamond recoveries from the first two days of trial processing following the recent   efficiency and security modifications to the bulk sampling plant.

The Company pointed out that the recovery of the special yellow diamond was from the “Neck Zone”, which is not part of the current +1 million carat JORC resource for the mine.

“Following sign off of the modifications, Mothae will commence processing three 50,000 tonne bulk samples of kimberlite material from the Neck, North and South East Zones, with the aim of adding to the JORC resource and the mine life,” Lucapa said.

Amongst the other +5 carat diamond recoveries from the first two days of trial processing of material from the Neck Zone is  a 6 carat diamond.

“Meanwhile, construction of the new 150 tonne per hour treatment plant with XRT large diamond recovery technology continues on schedule for commercial production in H2 2018,” Lucapa said.