PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has announced significant recoveries from a bulk sample from its Lulo kimberlite operation, in Angola.
The company said that 20 diamonds had been recovered from the initial processing of around 20% of the kimberlite bulk sample, with five diamonds greater than 1 ct recovered, with the largest weighing 1.95 ct.
Lucapa told shareholders that while the processing of the kimberlite bulk sample was continuing, these initial diamond recoveries already represented the highest diamond count and carat weight of diamonds recovered from any kimberlite bulk sample processed at Lulo to date. The processing of the remainder of the near 3 200 m3 broken kimberlite bulk sample is continuing and a full reconciliation of processed volumes back to in-situ volumes and tonnes will be undertaken when processing is complete.
“This preliminary result is important in that it represents the best kimberlite diamond recoveries to date, confirms the existence of higher grade primary sources with commercial size diamonds and it bolsters our large geological database with confirmatory results for our teams to use to prioritise the other kimberlites and targets on the Lulo concession,” said MD Stephen Wetherall.
“We are beginning to see the desired outcome of the methodical exploration approach in a significant diamond province which has been accelerated by the recent commissioning of the dedicated bulk sample plant.”
The Lulo mine has been in commercial production since 2015.