Sourcing

Lucapa Finds 2 More 100-Carat-Plus Diamonds

SourcingDec 21, 2020

Lucapa Finds 2 More 100-Carat-Plus Diamonds

The recovery of a 101-carat diamond in Lesotho followed right after the miner found a 127-carat stone in Angola.

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Lucapa recently uncovered this 101-carat D color Type IIa rough diamond at the Mothae mine in Lesotho.

Perth, Australia—Lucapa Diamond Company found two more big stones this month.

The miner recently announced the recovery of a 101-carat white diamond, which is D color and Type IIa, from the Mothae kimberlite diamond mine in Lesotho.

It marks the fourth 100-carat-plus diamond recovered from the southern lobe of the Mothae kimberlite pipe, Lucapa said.

Mothae started mining and processing operations in January 2019 and produced more than 30,000 carats in its first year of production. It is currently undergoing an expansion to increase its processing capacity by about 45 percent, Lucapa said; that project is slated for completion in Q1 2021.

Meanwhile, earlier in December, Lucapa said its Lulo mine in Angola uncovered the 127-carat rough stone seen below.



It was recovered from the leziria area in Mining Block 24 as part of the company’s targeted dry season operations, Lucapa said, and is the first 100-carat-plus diamond produced from this mining block.

The 127-carat rough stone is also the sixteenth weighing more than 100 carats recovered to date from Lulo and the third in 2020.

Lucapa claims Lulo is one of the highest average per-carat alluvial diamond producers in the world.

Meanwhile, the miner also announced recently that a 46-carat pink colored rough diamond recovered from Lulo a while ago—the largest gem-quality colored rough diamond recovered there to date—resulted in three polished diamonds: a 15.2-carat heart and two pear-shaped diamonds weighing 3.3 carats and 2.3 carats.

Brecken Branstratoris the senior editor, gemstones at National Jeweler, covering sourcing, pricing and other developments in the colored stone sector.

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