ASX-listed emerging diamond group, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited, in partnership with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, have announced the recovery of a top-colour 55-carat diamond from the new 1.1 Million tonne per annum (Mtpa) Mothae kimberlite plant in Lesotho, Africa.
The 55 carat stone is the fifth over 50-carat diamond recovered to date from Lucapa’s 70 per cent owned Mothae project; in March, an 83.9-carat diamond was recovered.
Commercial production from the Mothae mine commenced in January 2019 following the successful commissioning and ramp-up phases for the new plant and an earlier bulk sampling campaign.
Mothae is considered to be a ‘well-defined’ kimberlite pipe with a surface area of approximately 8.8 hectares.
The pipe has a JORC classified diamond resource of over 1 million carats (to a depth of 300 metres) at an average modelled diamond value of US$1,063 per carat.
Production from Mothae is scheduled to double to 2.2Mtpa in 2021 under Phase 2 of the development plan.