William Lamb
CEO: Lucara Diamond Corporation
‘This is something more emotional. This is something that I actually need to finish for Lucara’
WILLIAM Lamb was granted a glimpse of the future after heavy rains interrupted production at the firm’s Karowe open-pit mine in Botswana in May last year. The Toronto-listed firm was consequently forced to process lower-grade stockpiles that resulted in a downgrade of full-year production and revenue guidance. That’s how it will be from mid-2026, when Karowe’s open pit is mined out and it will have to rely on stockpiles.
According to an updated feasibility study published in January, primary production only resumes in 2028, when Lucara commissions the heavily delayed $779m underground expansion of Karowe, known as the UGP. This is a tough time to be embarking on big-bang projects given the diamond market remains depressed. But Lamb seems to be finding a way. On January 15 the company announced plans to conclude a non-brokered minimum $165m placement with the Lundin Group via Nemesia, which represents Lundin family interests. Given $436m has already been sunk so far, the balance will be financed through cash flows and, possibly, a corporate bond.
Lucara has also applied for ‘financial hardship’ from the TSX in terms of which it can have the placement proceed without a shareholder vote. Lamb has in Adam Lundin, chair of the Lundin Group, a steadfast ally. Lamb and Lundin see the extension of Karowe as a vocation. They are motivated by the mine’s near-miraculous propensity to yield stunning treasures. It was from Karowe that the 2,488ct ‘Motswedi’ was found, second in size only to the 3,106ct Cullinan diamond. Meanwhile, there has been progress on the UGP, with the production shaft reaching a depth of 770 metres.
LIFE OF WILLIAM
After leaving Lucara in 2018, where he had been CEO and president for 10 years, Lamb set up his own consulting business – WLP – which he ran for five years from Vancouver. He then decamped to Toronto, where he joined NewGen Resource Lending as its partner and chief technical officer. Clearly, he could not but heed the SOS from Lucara. Prior to Lucara, Lamb earned his stripes at De Beers in various technical roles, but life in mining began at Rand Mines, where he helped mine diamonds’ dark alter ego, coal.
