Lucapa Closes In on Diamond 'Mother Lode'

RAPAPORT... Lucapa Diamond Company aims to pinpoint a huge source of rough diamonds at its Lulo mine in Angola within the next two years, it said Monday. The Australia-based miner has found high-quality stones at its alluvial deposit, including the 404.20-carat 4 de Fevereiro, the largest in Angolan history. The company believes these stones originated from a deep diamond source located within the Lulo site, Lucapa chairman Miles Kennedy noted at the company's 2019 annual general meeting. "To me, the main game in Angola for many years has been tofind the kimberlite diamond pipe or pipes which, about 100 million years ago,erupted within our Lulo concession, and in doing so, shed the world's mostvaluable alluvial diamonds down into the terraces we mine today," Kennedy said."And while kimberlite exploration can by nature be painstakingly slow, I amequally of the view that we are closer than ever to finding the mother lode atLulo." Lucapa has extended its exploration license for the deposituntil 2023. It is also working on the development of new technologies that havethe potential to detect diamond indicators much earlier than conventional mineral analysis, Kennedy explained. This, together with an independent study the minerrecently performed that targeted likely exploration areas, provides a goodpossibility of finding the sought-after source on the site within thenext couple of years. "There are no silver bullets in the kimberlite explorationgame either," Kennedy added. "But the patient and methodical approach adoptedby our exploration team is narrowing down and confining the search areas of ourquest. It may take us another couple of years, but I am more confident thanever that we can indeed find the diamond source at Lulo. And...that has thepotential to be a discovery of huge wealth." In the second half of the year, Lucapa will shift focus to a higher-margin, underwater area of its alluvial deposit, located in the southern pit of themine. It will also begin cutting and polishing special rough stones that it would normally sell at tender. The company will also grow its mining fleet and add a third operating shift to the plant at Lulo, which will begin operating 24/7. The project, which will increase plant throughput by nearly 50%, will cost the company $12 million. Image: The 404.20-carat 4 de Fevereiro, the largest stone recovered from Lulo. (De Grisogono)