Lucara Expects 2014 Revenue of $160M From Karowe Diamonds
January 13, 14
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Building and commissioning of a plant upgrade will take place to improve large diamond recovery following continued occurrence of exceptional stones and to enable sustainable processing of harder ore in the south lobe. This is forecast at an expenditure of $45 million-$50 million.
Mining is forecast at 3.0 million tonnes-3.5 million tonnes of kimberlite at Karowe, of which it is anticipated that 2.2 million tones-2.4 million tonnes will be processed through the plant with the remainder being stockpiled.
President and CEO William Lamb said, “Lucara had a strong year in 2013, achieving its production and operating cost targets and exceeding forecast revenues following the recovery of a high proportion of large exceptional quality diamonds during the year.
"In 2014 it is expected that the scheduled plant upgrade, largely funded from the company’s 2013 year-end cash balance will be completed and brought online to deliver sustainable diamond recovery for production of 2.5 million tonnes per annum for the remainder of the mine life. This upgrade will also include processes to ensure the safe recovery of the value driving large and exceptional diamonds of Karowe.
The mine has been in production since May 2012 and has conducted mining and processing operations broadly in line with the feasibility study.
As of December 2013, 5.5 million tonnes of waste have been removed to allow for the extraction of 3.9 million tonnes of ore, 2.4 million tonnes of which were processed, yielding 441,000 carats of diamonds from Karowe.
A total of 439,000 carats have been sold in 2013 with year-end inventory of 67,000 carats of diamonds.