Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered a 64 carat diamond from the Mothae kimberlite mine in Lesotho, Africa.
Type Ila D-colour gem is considered the best individual diamond recovered to date from the Mothae mine, further underlining the mine’s status as a source of large and premium-value stones, according to Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall.
“The recovery of this exceptional 64 carat gem also represents a great start to our mining campaign in the higher margin zones in the southern pit at Mothae,” he said.
Lucapa’s commencement of dewatering the southern pit into the main 500,000 cubic metre dam has enabled mining to transition to this higher-margin zone of the kimberlite pipe in the third quarter this year.
Mining is scheduled to continue in the southern pit throughout 2019.
Lucapa’s Lulo and Mothae sites produce large and high-value diamonds, with over 75 per cent of both mines’ revenue generated from the recovery of 4.8-plus carat stones.
The 1.1 million tonnes a year Mothae kimberlite mine commenced commercial diamond mining operations in January and has already recovered seven 50-plus carat diamonds under Lucapa’s management.
The Mothae mine is 70 per cent owned by Lucapa and 30 per cent by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho. It is located in the diamond-rich Maluti Mountains.