Lucapa Sells 6 Diamonds, Including 14-Carat Pink

Subiaco, Western Australia—Six diamonds from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola garnered $12.4 million in Lucapa’s second tender of the year, the mining company announced late last week.  

The six diamonds totaled 447 carats.  

The group consisted of a 14-carat pink diamond, as well as five white Type IIa diamonds weighing 195 carats, 89 carats, 68 carats, 51 carats, and 28 carats. 

The average price per carat was $27,700, with the pink diamond attracting the highest price per carat.  

The Lulo mine is operated by Australian miner Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd., private Angolan company Rosas & Petalas, and Angola state-owned diamond company Endiama E.P. 

Sodiam E.P., the state-owned diamond trading company, conducted the tender.  

“A very pleasing tender result, our second this year,” Lucapa CEO and managing director Nick Selby said.  

“Our alluvial project continues to deliver fantastic diamonds that are always in demand through all market cycles and achieve very competitive values.” 

Lucapa announced this week it also has recovered a 176-carat Type IIa Lulo mine.

It is the fifth diamond weighing more than 100 carats to be recovered this year and the eighth largest diamond to come out of the mine since commercial production began in 2015, the company said.

It is the 45th diamond weighing more than 100 carats that Lucapa has mined at Lulo. 

The continual recovery of large diamonds such as these has been a key source of income for Lulo, said Lucapa, and it has also informed the miner’s kimberlite exploration program. 

Through the program, Lucapa is currently bulk sampling kimberlites near where the 176-carat diamond was found. 

“The recovery of this 176-carat diamond is yet more confirmation of the massive potential of the kimberlite province where we are focusing our exploration efforts to find the source(s) of these magnificent gems,” said Selby.  

He added, “the diamond has not traveled far as it still displays sharp, angular edges.” 

Lucapa and its project partners also are exploring for potential primary source kimberlites or lamproites at the Lulo concession and the Brooking project in Australia.  

Earlier this month, the miner gave an update on exploration at Lulo following a “severe” wet season in Angola.  

It said it is focused on sampling kimberlites near the Cacuilo River; these are considered more likely to be the major sources of the diamonds found in the Cacuilo’s alluvial deposits.  

Lucapa also has begun construction on the road to access the “high-priority” L014 kimberlite, which sits beneath the river. 

“Now that the wet season is behind us this year, we are excited to be back in full flow with the exploration program and gaining access to the areas that were previously inaccessible due to the wet ground conditions,” Selby said.  

“The preparation work is well underway for accessing kimberlite L014, from which we will be doing the necessary delineation drilling and taking bulk samples. Road construction and sample planning is progressing for the other priority targets close to the Cacuilo River. We look forward to bringing further updates to the market, as the sampling results become available.”