PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa has recovered a 25 ct yellow gem diamond from its Mothae kimberlite mine, in Lesotho.
The ASX-listed company noted that the stone was recovered from the Neck zone of the Mothae kimberlite, which was not part of the current one-million carat Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource.
The 25 ct diamond was recovered within the first two days of trial processing through the bulk sampling plant, after recent efficiency and security modifications, with a number of other five-plus carat stones also being recovered.
The Mothae project is expected to start processing three 50 000 t bulk samples of kimberlite material from the Neck, North and South Eat zones, with the aim of adding to the resource and the mine life.
Lucapa in early May also recovered a 46 ct gem-quality pink diamond from its Lulo mine, in Angola, which was the largest coloured diamond recovered to date from that operation.