Lucapa Diamond (ASX: LOM) announced Monday the recovery of its fifth +100-carat diamond found this year: a 176-carat Type IIa gem diamond from the Lulo alluvial mine in Angola.
The diamond is also the 45th +100-carat stone to be recovered from Lulo and the eighth largest since alluvial operations began in 2015, the company said.
In 2021, Lucapa announced a 35% increase in the resource carats at Lulo. The mine’s in-situ resource now sits at 135,900 carats at a modelled average diamond value of $1,440/carat.
The continual recovery of these and other large, high-value diamonds has been a major source of revenue for Lulo over the years – in December 2023, Lucapa fetched $17 million from four diamonds recovered from Lulo – as well as being a major informant to the kimberlite exploration program.
Lucapa continues to hunt for the source of these large gems via the kimberlite exploration program, which is currently bulk sampling in close proximity to the mining blocks where the 176-carat diamond was recovered.
“The recovery of this 176-carat diamond is yet more confirmation of the massive potential of the kimberlite province, where we are focusing our exploration efforts to find the source(s) of these magnificent gems,” Lucapa’s CEO Nick Selby said in a news release.
As can be seen from the image above, “the diamond has not travelled far as it still displays sharp, angular edges,” Selby added.
The firm has a 40% stake in Lulo, which hosts the world’s highest dollar-per-carat alluvial diamonds. The rest is held by Angola’s national diamond company (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, a private entity.
