LUCARA Diamond Corporation, the Toronto-listed firm operating the Karowe mine in Botswana, said it sold $32.48m worth of stones at its twelfth exceptional stone tender with one stone – weighing 327.48 carats – selling for $10.1m.
“The quality of Karowe’s large diamonds continues to attract the attention of the world’s foremost manufacturers and diamantaires with 29 companies attending the sale and eight individual companies winning lots,” said Eira Thomas CEO of Lucara Diamond, in a statement. The diamonds were mined in 2018.
The tender consisted of 10 single stone lots, ranging from 472.37 to 40.4 carats in size, totaling 1,453.06 carats, included two diamonds greater than 300 carats. The average price per carat, excluding the 472.37 carat top light brown diamond, was $30,712 per carat.
The sale of exceptional diamonds is good news for Lucara which has struggled this year operationally. It kept the dividend steady at 2.5 Canadian cents per share in May despite an increase in costs to the high end of guidance for the March quarter.
Revenue was steady year-on-year at $25.4m for the quarter compared to $26.1m in the corresponding quarter of Lucara’s previous financial year, equal to $401 per carat compared to $405 per carat previously.
And whilst the company continued to recover the high quality ‘specials’ for which its Karowe mine is famed – especially the historic 1,111 carat Lesedi La Rona – operating cash costs came in at $43.04 per tonne compared to guidance of $38 to $42 per tonne.
