Lucara Reports $437 p/c Valuation for Lesotho Project
July 29, 09
Diamond valuation results of Lucara Diamond Corp.’s Lesotho bulk sample give the goods a high $437 per carat tag price. Shlomo Tidhar of Galaxy Diamond Expertise SA did the valuation of the 3,890 carat parcel in June.
Lucara is an African focused diamond exploration and development company seeking to become a mid-tier diamond producer. One of its projects is the Mothae project in Lesotho.
According to Galaxy, the high valuation of the Mothae diamonds is highly influenced by the presence of large, high value stones. One of them is a 24.59 carat diamond valued at more than $320,000. “The presence of stones of this type is highly unusual given the small size of the sample and demonstrates the potential for exceptionally high value stones.”
Galaxy noted that six diamond fragments totaling 45 carats were recovered from an initially greater than 60 carat diamond. It estimated that if the diamond had remained intact, the overall diamond parcel would have been increased by $400,000, raising the average value of the parcel to $540 p/c, with a modeled value of $684 p/c.
William Lamb, president and COO of Lucara said the valuation has confirmed the presence of large high value stones at Mothae. Coupled with diamond grade of 4.7 carats per hundred tons, the results “provide sufficient encouragement to continue our development on the Mothae project.”