Johannesburg (miningweekly.com) ASX-listed diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has discovered another two large, high-quality alluvial diamonds from Mining Block 6 at the company’s Lulo diamond project, in Angola.
Testing confirmed that both diamonds, which weighed 120.4 ct and 86.2 ct, were Type IIa gems. The 120.4 ct diamond was a D colour gem, while the 86.2 ct diamond was an E colour gem.
The 120.4 ct stone was the second diamond weighing more than 100 ct recovered from Mining Block, 6 since the first stockpiled gravels were processed through the 150-tonne-an-hour diamond plant in January.
This discovery followed the recent recovery of a 133.4 ct compound diamond– the biggest individual stone recovered to date at Lulo – and emphasised the significant potential of the new alluvial mining block to be another regular source of large and valuable special diamonds.
Mining Block 6 had, to date, produced 60 special diamonds weighing up to 90.3 ct. The continued recovery of large specials from the Mining Block 6 area also emphasised the potential prize in the search by Lucapa and its partners for the primary kimberlite source of the alluvial diamonds.