RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd. sold a fourth parcel of diamonds from its Lulo diamond concession in Angola, achieving $2.3 million, or $1,500 per carat. The parcel included a 63.05-carat, D, type IIa stone. Lucapa's proceeds from the four parcels, totaling 3,856 carats, reached $7.7 million, or nearly $2,000 per carat.
The Lulo diamond field has produced fancy-colored diamonds (pinks and yellows) and a significant proportion of type IIa stones, according to the company. Lucapa's CEO, Stephen Wetherall, said, "The sale prices we are achieving highlight the financial significance of recovering large special diamonds on a regular basis -- as we are doing at Lulo -- and gives us further confidence that we are on track to achieve our previously stated objective of becoming cash-flow positive by the end of this quarter."
Next, Lucapa is moving its alluvial mining operations to the high-grade diamond zones of BLK 08, 06 and 19, where several large stones have been recovered during bulk sampling. "We hope to be in a position to offer our next parcel of Lulo diamonds for sale in June 2015, in line with our strategy of generating sustainable long-term cash flows from regular diamond sales," he said.
|