Lucapa's Lulo mine
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has recovered a 160 ct white Type IIa diamond from its Lulo operation, in Angola, putting fire to the company’s ambitions of finding the primary source of the large diamonds being discovered in the region.
The 160 ct diamond is the twenty-eighth diamond of more than 100 ct to be recovered at Lulo and was mined from the same alluvial mining block as the “Lulo Rose”, the 170 ct pink coloured diamond recovered in July this year, Lucapa MD and CEO Stephen Wetherall told delegates at Paydirt’s Africa Downunder conference, in Perth.
The 160 ct diamond is the sixth largest recovered at Lulo to date.
Wetherall on Friday told delegates at the conference that Lucapa was working to discover the source of the large stones in Angola.
“Over eight years of consistent commercial mining, we have been recovering large, irregular shapes and high value diamonds consistently. Size and shape matters. Why? Because it's an indicator of proximity to source.
“Large diamonds could not have been transported very far. Heavy material falls out early in a transport process. Equally, irregular shaped diamonds also could not have been transported very far. Rounding occurs over tumbling and traveling for long distances. We are not recovering diamonds with those characteristics, so this all points to a close proximity,” Wetherall said.
He noted that the frequency of recovery also mattered, with the discoveries above ground indicative of what could potentially lie underground.
Lucapa has systematically gone through a drilling campaign, drilling over 120 anomalies, of which over 100 have converted into discovered kimberlites.
“We have sent some 80 of those away for mineral chemistry analysis and we have prioritized to date 20 of those for bulk sampling,” Wetherall said, adding that the company would continue with assessing further anomalies in a bulk sampling campaign.
To assist with its bulk sampling work, Lucapa is commissioning a standalone kimberlike bulk sampling plant, rather than using its eluvial plant to process these samples.
“I’m pleased to say that construction is nearing completion. We should be entering into the commissioning phase very shortly, and we will be putting through a significant number - we believe two every six weeks will be going through the bulk sample plant,” Wetherall told delegates on Friday.
“We're at the narrow end of the funnel if I can call it that. It is one of the most prospective kimberlite exploration programmes globally. We are very well positioned to deliver results and who knows one day we might wake up, you know, and have the result that we've been working so hard to uncover in Angola.”