By Teboho Serutla
Lucapa diamond Company Limited and its partner, the government of Lesotho, have announced the recovery of a 215 carat diamond from the Mothae Kimberlite mine.
The 215-carat stone is the largest type lla D-colour white diamond, the second +200 carat diamond and fifth +100 carat diamond recovered through the 1.1Mtpa Mothae plant since commercial diamond mining operations commenced in 2019.
It follows the recovery of an exceptional 101-carat diamond in December 2020. Lucapa and the Lesotho government aim to further increase the frequency in recovery of these large and valuable diamonds, and this objective is the primary rationale for Lucapa’s additional foreign direct investment that will see the diamond production increase at Mothae by the end of the first quarter of 2021.
In addition, the implementation of the new marketing channel, whereby Mothae will now benefit from a significant share of the margins beyond the mine gate, will see Mothae benefit to a much greater extent from its niche production.
“The continued recovery of large diamonds at Mothae validates the recent investment decision to expand capacity at the mine. Lucapa has now produced 23 +100 diamonds, four of which are greater than 200 carats (across the two mines) and we, together with the GoL as mine partners in Lesotho and Endiama and Rosas Petalas as mine partners in Angola, look to many more such exceptional mining recoveries,” Lucapa’s Managing Director Stephen Wetherall states.
