Lucara Recovers 36.92-ct Blue Diamond

(IDEX Online) - Lucara yesterday (16 March) announced the recovery of a 36.92-carat blue diamond from its Karowe mine, in Botswana.

It says the high-quality Type IIB stone was recovered from ore sourced from stockpile material using X-ray transmission machines - designed to prevent large gems being crushed.

The mine has yielded a number of extremely high-value stones, including a 9.46-carat Type II blue diamond, the Aven Blue, shortly after it began commercial operations in 2012. It sold for $4.5m.

Lucara also recovered an "exceptional" 9.74-carat gem-quality blue diamond from the mine in September 2019. No price has been disclosed.  

For pricing context the 11.28-carat Infinite Blue, from Petra's Cullinan mine, in South Africa, sold for $25.4m at Sotheby's Hong Kong in October 2023.

Commenting on the latest recovery, William Lamb, Lucara's president and CEO said: "Recoveries such as this demonstrate the value contained within the company's surface stockpiles, which remain an important source of mill feed and a contributor to ongoing diamond recoveries."

Lucara, based in Vancouver, Canada, has recovered five other stones over 100 carats so far this year from the processing of stockpile material.

Pic courtesy Lucara.