Lucara Closes 2012 with Strong Revenue

(IDEX Online News) – Lucara Diamond Corp. reported $29.1 million in revenue in its fourth quarter of 2012. Earnings for the year totaled $41.8 million as the company commissioned a diamond mine and started selling goods from regular production.

William Lamb, president of Lucara, said 2012 was a "transformational year," building and commissioning the Karowe mine in Botswana.

During the year, Karowe produced 303,000 carats. Proceeds from the sale of nearly 216,000 carats totaled $55 million, an average sales price of $253 per carat, exceeding their mid-year expectations.

Karowe produced a number of exceptional, high value stones including a 9.6-carat blue diamond that sold for $4.5 million in the third quarter. This month, a 239-carat white diamond that was recovered, one of the largest diamonds ever recovered in the prolific Orapa district.

Looking forward, Lucara reported successful sales and recovery of exceptional stones continuing in the first quarter of 2013, generating $32.5 million from the sale of 144,712 carats of Karowe diamond. The sale of Karowe's second blue diamond, a 4.77-carat stone, for $341,416 p/c contributed $1.6 million to the company.

"I look forward to 2013 being another outstanding year for Lucara,” Lamb said.

The 2013 sales included six parcels totaling 18,233 carats, which were withheld from the December 2012 sale due to low volumes of competitive bidding.

Excluding the December diamond inventory sold in January, the average sales price for full 2013 production sold was $243 per carat.