TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian precious stone miner Lucara Diamond Corp has had an “exceptional” start to the year and, based on an increased mining rate, on Monday lifted its expected sales for 2013 by 5% to 420 000 ct when compared with its previous guidance.

Vancouver-based Lucara said it expected its flagship Karowe diamond mine, in Botswana, to process 2.5-million tonnes, which would help the mine achieve its expected $118-million revenue target, which would be derived from five planned sales during the rest of the year.

This excluded the potential for a second large stone tender to be held later this year, with viewings planned in Gaborone, Botswana and Antwerp, Belgium.

Karowe's operating cash costs were expected to remain at $23/ct, in line with the company’s previous guidance.

The mine plan provides for waste stripping to access ore in the centre and south lobes during the second half of the year, which would provide access to deeper ore-benches in the north lobe. The scheduled strip ratio for the year was 2.2 t of waste to 1 t of ore, which was also in line with previous guidance.

Lucara expected its capital expenditure to total about $5-million, an increase from the previous guidance of $3-million, which was intended to fund advanced work on the Karowe mine’s tailings dam and secure the company's water resources through installing more boreholes.

CEO William Lamb said Lucara had an exceptional start to 2013 with the recovery of large and exceptional diamonds resulting in the company's first large stone tender achieving gross revenues of $24.8-million and the sale of its second blue stone for $1.6-million.

The additional cash flows from the large stone tender were expected to result in the strengthening of the company's balance sheet as it expected to reduce its debt by meeting all of its debenture repayment obligations of $33.3-million by the end of the year.