JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Southern African diamond miner Lucara Diamond Corp will, on May 11, close its eleventh exceptional stone tender (EST), which includes 15 diamonds weighing a combined 1 765 ct.
Six of the diamonds on offer weigh in excess of 100 ct.
CEO William Lamb noted that the EST would position the company well for the financial year and, with mining at is Karowe mine, in Botswana, now ramped up and with a renewed focused on south lobe ore, it anticipated the delivery of strong cash flow returns.
Karowe's new mine contractor Aveng Moolmans started mobilisation to site in February, with the mine expected to achieve full production during the second quarter.
Overall, the company achieved revenues of $26.1-million or $405/ct for its first regular tender, yielding an operating margin of $188/ct for the three months to March 31.
This was marginally lower than the $50.6-million revenue it posted in the same quarter last year, with the miner attributing the decrease to a lower volume of carats being sold and a decrease in the carat weight of special diamonds sold.
The company's quarter-end cash balance stood at $43.5-million, also lower than the prior year’s $53.3-million, owing to investment in capital projects of $5-million and a dividend payment of $7.2-million.
Meanwhile, the company increased its first quarterly dividend from C$0.015 a share to C$0.025 apiece.