"Highest Grade Yet" from Lulo Exploration
February 19, 23
(IDEX Online) - Australian miner Lucapa has reported further positive results from bulk sampling at its Lulo mine, in Angola.
It recovered 23 diamond with a total of weight of 16.32 carats from one of the two kimberlites it's exploring (L164). The largest was 2.38 carats and average size was 0.71 carats.
It also recovered 13 diamonds, total weight 7.85 carats, from a second kimberlite (L056), an average size of 0.60 carats.
"This is the highest grade yet recovered from a Lulo kimberlite bulk sample and is very encouraging for an early stage, small sample," the company said.
An earlier sample at the L164 kimberlite, reported last month, yielded two +10.8-carat diamonds - weighing 15.27 carats and 12.37 carats.
The total yield was 41 diamonds, with a total weight of 66.05 carats. Among them were 12 individual diamonds greater than one carat with a total weight of 50.21 carats. Average stone size was approximately 1.61 carats.
Lucapa managing director, Stephen Wetherall said at the time that the results compared very favorably to two of the coarsest primary source kimberlites globally, the Mothae and Letseng mines in Lesotho.
Pic, courtesy Lucapa shows the 23 diamonds recovered from L164 and the largest stone (bottom) recovered from the sample, a 2.38 carat diamond as well as a 0.71 carat diamond (top left)