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CEO William Lamb said divesting the diamond sales platform allows the company to focus on the underground expansion of Karowe.
The 1,094-carat rough diamond recovered from Lucara Diamond Corp.’s Karowe mine in Botswana last month. The diamond mining company has sold its rough diamond sales platform, called Clara, to the group that founded it almost a decade ago.
Vancouver, British Columbia—Lucara Diamond Corp. announced this week that it is selling its rough diamond sales platform back to its founders, a group that includes the mining company’s former CEO.
Clara Diamond Solutions is a technology-led platform that utilizes proprietary analytics, as well as cloud and blockchain technologies, to sell rough diamonds to customers one-by-one based on their needs, rather than in assortments that may contain stones they cannot use.
It was designed to streamline the supply chain and make it more efficient, and also allows buyers to be able to trace diamonds back to their source.
Lucara originally acquired Clara from its founders in 2018 for an up-front consideration of 13.1 million shares of Lucara (then worth about $29 million).
The company also agreed to a profit-sharing mechanism whereby the technology’s founders received a percentage of the annual EBITDA generated by Clara every years for 10 years.
As of Oct. 4, Lucara is divesting 100 percent of its interest in Clara to a group led by Vancouver-based diamond manufacturer HRA Group and Eira Thomas.
Thomas served as Lucara’s CEO from February 2018 to August 2023, when the company reinstated William Lamb as CEO.
Related stories will be right here …
Clara Diamond Solutions is a technology-led platform that utilizes proprietary analytics, as well as cloud and blockchain technologies, to sell rough diamonds to customers one-by-one based on their needs, rather than in assortments that may contain stones they cannot use.
It was designed to streamline the supply chain and make it more efficient, and also allows buyers to be able to trace diamonds back to their source.
Lucara originally acquired Clara from its founders in 2018 for an up-front consideration of 13.1 million shares of Lucara (then worth about $29 million).
The company also agreed to a profit-sharing mechanism whereby the technology’s founders received a percentage of the annual EBITDA generated by Clara every years for 10 years.
As of Oct. 4, Lucara is divesting 100 percent of its interest in Clara to a group led by Vancouver-based diamond manufacturer HRA Group and Eira Thomas.
Thomas served as Lucara’s CEO from February 2018 to August 2023, when the company reinstated William Lamb as CEO.
Under the terms of the sale agreement, the founders will acquire Lucara’s interests in Clara Diamond Solutions GP Inc., Clara Diamond Solutions Limited Partnership, and Clara Diamond Solutions B.V., including all intellectual property rights, commercial contracts, and operating assets.
The founders will pay $3 million cash at closing for Clara plus the return of what amounts to 13.4 million shares of Lucara.
Lucara will retain a 3 percent net profit interest on Clara’s net earnings.
The mining company also has granted Clara a five-year rough diamond supply agreement for stones meeting the size and quality specifications for diamonds traditionally sold through the Clara platform.
The agreement can be terminated after its second anniversary, or at any time that both parties agree to do so.
The sale is subject to customary closing conditions and amendments.
Lamb said selling Clara allows Lucara to focus on the Karowe Diamond Mine in Botswana, its one active diamond mine.
“The company’s core competencies and future growth reside in the successful execution of the Karowe underground expansion project. While the Clara platform provides an innovative digital channel for rough diamond sales, the successful onboarding of other producers’ rough production required to scale the platform remains unattainable while the platform is owned by a pure-play diamond producer,” he said.
“Lucara maintains its conviction, reinforced by our supply agreement with Clara, that this technology will play an important role in the shaping of a demand-driven diamond sector.”
Aaron Ariel, who co-founded Clara alongside Ophir Stolov and is currently HRA Group’s vice president of operations and strategy, said they cannot wait to work with the Clara team on taking the platform “to the next level.”
“Nine years ago, while at our factory sorting through a mountain of rough diamonds—many of which we didn’t need but were required purchases, bundled inseparably with product needed to fulfill urgent orders—we had a big idea for a technology that could transform the global rough diamond market for everyone,” he said.
“Today, we are excited about the opportunity to realize its full potential, which remains largely unexplored.”
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