Lucara Diamonds’ Karowe mine, in Botswana, achieved a strong operational performance in 2018, meeting or exceeding guidance in all areas, the company said on Thursday.

Tonnes mined for the year ended December 31, 2018, reached 18.1-million, in line with guidance of 15.5-million to 18.7-million tonnes.

Ore and waste mined were 3.1-million tonnes and 15-million tonnes, respectively.

Ore processed totalled 2.6-million tonnes, in line with guidance of 2.4-million to 2.7-million tonnes.

The company recovered 366 086 ct, above its revised guidance of 325 000 ct to 350 000 ct.

Lucara said 2018 has been a record year for the recovery of specials – single diamonds in excess of 10.8 ct – with 829 such diamonds, totalling 24 793 ct, recovered. This included 33 diamonds in excess of 100 ct, of which five diamonds were in excess of 300 ct.

The company’s revenue of $176.2-million was lower than the $220.8-million earned in 2017 and slightly below its revised guidance of $180-million to $190-million.

Meanwhile, Lucara subsidiary Clara Diamond Solutions completed its inaugural sale in the fourth quarter of 2018 with total sales of $660 865, achieving a premium margin over traditional sales tenders and demonstrating the value that can be unlocked using this new approach, Lucara indicated in a statement.

Clara is a secure, digital sales platform that uses proprietary analytics, together with cloud and blockchain technologies, to modernise the existing diamond supply chain.

Lucara’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) for the period was $60.5-million, compared with adjusted Ebitda of 113.5-million in 2017.

“The investments we made in our business in 2018 resolved the waste stripping bottleneck, advanced and significantly de-risked our plans for underground expansion at Karowe and bought us a complementary new technology business that has the potential to contribute significant future cash flows,” indicated Lucara president and CEO Eira Thomas.

“Operations at Karowe are stable, plant reliability has never been better and, with the waste stripping campaign largely complete, we are focused on driving efficiencies, reducing costs and maximising revenues.”

“Further, 2019 is off to a strong start with the recovery of several high-quality [diamonds larger than] 100 ct, which will be offered for sale at our first tender of the year, scheduled to close on March 7. For Clara, we are excited to be steadily ramping up on sales and we are expecting to add third-party rough production to the platform before year-end.”