LUCAPA Diamond Company has re-opened Mothae mine in Lesotho after a six month Covid-19 induced hiatus, the company said on Thursday.
The mine will be operated up to a 75% of nameplate capacity “… due to Covid-19 protocols in place”, it said.
“Mothae is an important contributor to the Basotho nation and Lucapa and the Government of Lesotho are excited to have most of our teams and contractors back at the mine,” said Stephen Wetherall, MD of Lucapa.
“We too look forward to implementing recently approved marketing initiatives that will see additional value derived for the Mothae high-value production.”
The re-opening of the mine will enable Lucapa to deliver into its new marketing channel announced in September. In terms of the agreement, Lucapa will sell its goods directly to diamantaires, and participate in the margins of the polished goods.
In April, Lucapa sold 3,963 carats from the mine into the partnership achieving an average price of $505 per carat.
“This is a similar marketing channel successfully implemented at Lucapa’s Lulo mine in Angola which has already shown its value to the mine,” said Wetherall.
