SHARES in Lucapa Diamond Company have been subject to a trading halt ahead of an announcement scheduled for publication on August 28.
Lucapa announced on July 5 that it had produced a fifth more diamonds from its Lulo mine in the June quarter with the number of ‘specials’ – high value stones – also being recovered from the operations. Some 5,048 carats were recovered.
Specials increased 7% to 61 stones and taking the total of premium diamonds recovered from Lulo to 118 – an increase of 24% – in the first half of Lucapa Diamond’s financial year. An inventory of 2,755 carats is being held as of June 2018 after sales totalling $5m in the quarter, an increase of 6%, and sale of $15.9m for the half year.
These diamonds were sold at an average price per carat of $1,479 for the quarter and $1,642 for the first half of the financial year. “These positive sales revenues and prices were achieved notwithstanding the decision to withhold from sale the large high-value specials,” the company said in a quarter update.
