Lucapa to Become Cash-Flow Positive by End of June Quarter

(IDEX Online News) – Lucapa Diamond Company Limited has announced that its commercial alluvial mining operations at the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola are on track to become cash flow positive by the end of the current June 2015 quarter, after exceeding its first quarter mining and processing targets.

The company and its partners began alluvial diamond mining operations in January after securing a 35-year mining license in November 2014.

In the March-ended quarter, the company produced 1,317 diamonds weighing 1,335 carats, for an average stone size of 1.01 carats per stone.

Consistent with previous bulk sampling recoveries, the diamonds recovered during the quarter included large specials (>10.8 carat), including individual stones weighing 26.7 carats, 23.45 carats, 20.35 carats, 19.85 carats,15.1 carats, 12.7 carats, 11.95 carats and 11.55 carats.

As with previous recoveries, several of these special stones were confirmed as rare Type IIa gems.

The recovered diamond grade of 10.34 carats per 100 cubic meters (cphm3) achieved during the March 2015 quarter is consistent with the average bulk sampling results from the areas mined.

Mining during the current June 2015 quarter will now also include gravels from the areas where the largest and most valuable diamonds were recovered during the alluvial bulk sampling phase.

The diamonds recovered previously from these areas included individual

stones weighing 131.4 carats, 95.4 carats, 53.2 carats, 38.4 carats, 32.2 carats and 24.4 carats.

“We are extremely pleased to have exceeded our throughput targets for the first three months of diamond mining at Lulo during the challenging conditions of the Angolan wet season,” said Lucapa CEO Stephen Wetherall.