Lucapa recovers 83-carat diamond from Leshoto’s Mothae mine

Lucapa has recovered an 83.9 carat diamond from Mothea mine in Lesotho. The large stone, the fourth 50+ carat diamond recovered from this mine to date, underlines its status as a regular source for large stones. Since the initiation of the mine’s bulk sampling program in 2018, a 51.2-carat diamond was found in February and earlier two more diamonds, weighing 78 carats and 89 carats respectively, were recovered.

Lucapa’s flagship asset is the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola, which is a prolific producer of large and premium-value alluvial diamonds. In addition to the Mtpa Mothae mine in Leshoto, the firm is involved in early stage exploration projects at Brooking in Western Australia and Orapa Area F in Botswana.

While the recent discovery is not a gem-quality stone, its find confirms the large-stone nature of the Mothae kimberlite resource. Stephen Wetherall, Lucapa’s Managing Director, said: “We are highly encouraged that the coarse size fraction in our recently commenced commercial production through the new 1.1 Mtpa Mothae plant is reinforcing why Lucapa invested in this second high-value resource to complement production from the Lulo mine in Angola.”