An exceptionally large and white 1,174 carat diamond stone has been unearthed in Botswana, trumping another huge precious stone that was found in the African country in June.
The latest find, which fills the palm of a large hand, was also discovered in June, on the 12th. It was found by the Canadian Diamond firm Lucara and presented to the country’s cabinet in Gaborone on Wednesday.
“This is history in the making, for us and Botswana as well,” said the company’s managing director, Naseem Lahri, adding that the diamond was in third position among the world’s largest gemstones.
On 1 June the Botswanan diamond firm Debswana said it had recovered what was then the “third largest” stone in the world, weighing in at 1,098 carats.
Botswana leads the world for the largest precious stones, accounting for six in the top 10 list. The country is Africa’s leading diamond producer.
The biggest diamond ever discovered anywhere was the 3,106 carat Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905. Parts of that diamond adorn the British crown jewels.
Mokgweetsi Masisi, the president of Botswana, on Wednesday welcomed the “riveting moment” and the frequency of diamond discoveries in his country.
The diamond firm Debswana has announced the discovery in Botswana of a 1,098-carat stone that it described as the third largest of its kind in the world.
The company’s acting managing director, Lynette Armstrong, presented the stone, which was found on 1 June, to the country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, on Wednesday.
It is the third largest in the world, behind the 3,106-carat Cullinan found in South Africa in 1905 and the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona discovered in Botswana in 2015.
“This is the largest diamond to be recovered by Debswana in its history of over 50 years in operation,” Armstrong said.
“From our preliminary analysis it could be the world’s third largest gem-quality stone. We are yet to make a decision on whether to sell it through the De Beers channel or through the state owned Okavango Diamond Company.”
The “rare and extraordinary stone … means so much in the context of diamonds and Botswana,” she said. “It brings hope to a nation that is struggling.”
The minerals minister, Lefoko Moagi, said the discovery of the stone, which is yet to be named but measures 73 by 52 by 27mm, could not have come at a better time after the Covid-19 pandemic hit diamond sales in 2020.
Debswana is a joint venture between Anglo American’s De Beers and the Botswanan government, which receives as much as 80% of the income from sales through dividends, royalties and taxes.
Production at Debswana fell by 29% in 2020 to 16.6m carats and sales fell by 30% to $2.1bn as the pandemic affected production and demand.
Debswana plans to increase output by as much as 38% to pre-pandemic levels of 23m carats in 2021 as the global diamond market recovers with the easing of travel restrictions and reopening of jewellers.
470 carat diamond recovered from the Karowe Mine in Botswana
Lucara Diamond Corp. is pleased to announce the recovery of a 470 carat top light brown clivage diamond from its 100% owned Karowe Diamond Mine located in Botswana.
The diamond, measuring 49x42x26mm, was recovered from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe. The 470 carat recovery forms a notable contribution to a series of top quality gem and clivage quality diamond recoveries during a recent production run, including an additional 5 diamonds greater than 100 carats (265ct, 183ct, 161ct, 116ct, 106ct) and 13 diamonds between 50 and 100 carats in weight.
The May production run, dominated by EM/PK(S) ore, produced diamonds greater than 10.8 carat in weight accounting for 12.7% weight percent of total production, exceeding resource expectations. Continued strong resource performance and recovery of large diamonds reinforces the significance of the EM/PK(S) as an important economic driver for the proposed underground mine at Karowe.
The 470 carat diamond was recovered in the Coarse XRT circuit and represents the third +300 carat diamond recovered to date in 2021. Year to date, Karowe has produced 10 diamonds greater than 100 carats including 6 diamonds greater than 200 carats, including the 341 carat (link to press release) and 378 carat (link to press release) top white diamonds recovered in January 2021.
Lucara Diamond Corp. said it has secured $220 million in financing to help take the Karowe Mine in Botswana underground and extend its life by about 20 years.
Karowe is responsible for producing some of the most significant diamonds recovered in recent years, including the 1,109-carat “Lesedi La Rona,” which Graff bought for $53 million, and a 1,758-carat diamond that Louis Vuitton is turning into jewelry.
The credit-approved senior debt facilities include two tranches: $170 million to go toward the development of the underground mine and $50 million to support the ongoing operation of the open pit.
The underground expansion has an estimated capital cost of $514 million and is expected to take five years. The balance of development capital for the project is expected to come from cash flow from the mine’s ongoing open-pit operations.
In a statement announcing the financing, Lucara President and CEO Eira Thomas called securing the financing “an important achievement for Lucara and a strong endorsement of our underground expansion plans.” She said the loans will supplement the cash flow from the open-pit portion of Karowe for the next five years and will extend the life of the mine from 2025 to at least 2040.
The five lenders on the $220 million financing facility for Lucara are: ING Bank N.V., Natixis, the London branch of Societe Generale, Africa Finance Corp., and Afreximbank. Thomas described them as having “significant mining and metals track records and experience in Africa.”
Closing on the facilities is subject to completion of definitive documentation and the satisfaction of certain terms and conditions, including Know Your Customer (KYC) checks.
The target closing date for the financing package is mid-2021, with financing expected to be in place by the second half of the year.
Lucara made the financing announcement the day before it released its first-quarter 2021 results.
Revenues totaled $53.1 million, or $579 per carat sold, for the miner in Q1. Net income was $3.4 million.
That is a significant improvement over Q1 2020, when the onset of the pandemic limited sales to $34.1 million and caused Lucara to record a loss of $3.2 million.
First-quarter 2021 results also are up when compared with 2019, when Lucara reported revenues of $48.7 million, or $512 per carat sold. Net income for the latter, however, was higher at $7.4 million.
The company said overall, the diamond market started 2021 in its healthiest position in five years following strong holiday seasons in the United States and China, and careful rough supply management by producers, which has helped to recalibrate polished inventories.
Botswana Diamonds has announced that eleven diamonds and abundant kimberlitic indicators were recovered from drill samples at the recently discovered River Kimberlite pipe at Thorny River in South Africa.
John Teeling, Chairman, commented:
“The recovery of so many kimberlitic indicators and in particular diamonds, which are very rare to recover in small sample narrow reverse circulation drill holes is highly encouraging and bodes well for the potential commerciality of this exciting discovery”.
Following a detailed ground geophysical programme in October 2020, 6, six-inch percussion reverse circulation holes were drilled into the newly discovered River Kimberlite pipe.
A combined total of 39.5 m intersected kimberlite while an additional 55 m intersected a weathered kimberlite breccia.
Samples from these holes were taken at one metre intervals and twenty of these totalling about 500 kg were selected and submitted to an independent processing facility for assessment through screening, dense media separation and hand sorting.
11 Diamonds, 172 G10 pyrope garnets, 623 G9 pyrope garnets, 555 eclogitic garnets, 438 chromites and 268 chromium diopsides (clinopyroxene) were recovered at sizes between -1.0+0.3mm.
Recoveries of a specific mineral species were capped at 20 grains and thus this picture is a snapshot of the overall sample indicator content. Importantly, all the samples contained abundant kimberlitic indicators.
The diamonds are all notably of good colour and clarity and are of commercial quality and in high demand by the market. The diamonds were not weighed as the sample size was small and they are not representative of a possible population.
Pyrope garnets are common in peridotite xenoliths from kimberlite pipes, some of which are diamond-bearing. Pyrope found in association with diamond commonly has a Chromium Oxide content of three to eight percent which imparts a distinctive violet to deep purple colouration.
These are called G10 and G9 pyrope garnets. Eclogites typically result from high to ultrahigh pressure metamorphism of mafic rocks at low thermal gradients as they were subducted to the upper mantle in a subduction zone.
Garnets found in eclogitic xenoliths tend to have a deep orange colour. Diamonds in kimberlite come from both peridotitic and eclogitic xenoliths so the abundance of both types of garnet in this sample is noteworthy and this is supported by the recovery of diamonds from a relatively small drill sample.
Of significance too is that these diamonds are all of good colour and clarity. The next step is a detailed core drilling programme which is planned for the dry season.
Canada’s Lucara Diamond has found an unbroken 341-carat white gem-quality rock at its prolific Karowe mine in Botswana, with analysts estimating it could fetch more than $10 million.
The Vancouver based miner said the diamond was recovered over the Christmas period from milling of ore coming from the south western quadrant of Karowe’s South Lobe.
The diamond is the 54th stone over 200 carats recovered at Karowe since it began commercial operations in 2012.
The find builds on previous historic recoveries which include the 342-carat Queen of the Kalahari, the 549 carat Sethunya, the 1,109 carat Lesedi La Rona found in 2015, and the 1758 carat Sewelô, recovered in 2019.
Beyond Sewelô, the only larger diamond ever unearthed is the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was later cut into smaller stones, some of which now form part of British royal family’s crown jewels.
Botswana Diamonds (LON:BOD) said on Monday it had completed the acquisition of Sekaka, the exploration vehicle that belonged to embattled rival Petra Diamonds (LON:PDL) and which held three prospecting licenses in the country’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
In one of its licenses, Sekaka had singled out the KX36 kimberlite pipe, which is situated about 70 km from Gem Diamonds’ Ghaghoo mine, and 260 km north-west of Botswana’s capital Gaborone.
SIGN UP FOR THE PRECIOUS METALS DIGEST Sekaka also had a recently built, fit-for-purpose bulk sampling plant on-site that includes crushing, scrubbing, dense media separation circuits and X-ray recovery modules within a secured area.
The acquisition includes an extensive database, built up over 15 years of exploration.
Botswana Diamonds believes the information contained in the database will provide substantial support to its future kimberlite exploration activities in the mining-dependent country, the world’s second-largest diamond producer.
“We are delighted that this acquisition has now closed. This paves the way to explore commercial development options for KX36 and begin to evaluate the extensive database in conjunction with ours to discover more kimberlites in prime diamond real estate,” chairperson John Teeling said in a media statement.
Diamond exports from the southern African nation dropped 42% to $1.49 billion in the first nine months of this year as production fell 29% to 12.3 million carats due to covid-related restrictions.
Botswana’s mining sector provides a fifth of the country’s GDP and 80% of its foreign exchange earnings.
Mounting woes Petra Diamonds, the former owner of Sekaka, has been struggling for over two years. Its weak financial position pushed it to shed non-core assets and put itself up for sale in June.
The company reversed the decision in October, opting instead for a debt-for-equity restructuring. The deal would leave existing shareholders with just 9% of the company.
Petra is also dealing with allegations of human rights abuses at its Williamson mine in Tanzania, resulting from the actions of its security guards.
It recently reported a 36% fall in revenue and a net loss of $223 million (168.7 million pounds) for the year ended June 30, as the coronavirus pandemic deepened the company’s financial woes.
The Karowe mine has produced a 998-carat diamond, the latest in a string of large rough stones from the lucrative deposit in Botswana.
Lucara Diamond Corp., which owns Karowe, will work with manufacturing partner HB Antwerp to assess how to maximize value from the rough, the miner said Wednesday. The unbroken, high-white, clivage stone — meaning it needs to be split before further processing — came from the EM/PK(S) unit of the site’s south lobe, which has yielded some of the world’s biggest and most famous diamonds.
“Lucara is extremely pleased with the continued recovery of large, high-quality diamonds from the south lobe of the Karowe mine,” said CEO Eira Thomas. “To recover two [500-carat-plus] diamonds in 10 months, along with the many other high-quality diamonds across all the size ranges, is a testament to the unique aspect of the resource at Karowe and the mine’s ability to recover these large and rare diamonds.”
The EM/PK(S) area produced the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona in 2015, as well as the 1,758-carat Sewelô, which HB bought in January this year in collaboration with luxury brand Louis Vuitton.
The Belgian manufacturer later agreed to purchase all of Lucara’s rough above 10.8 carats for the remainder of the year. Last week, Lucara announced the sale of a 549-carat diamond from the same high-value patch of Karowe, with HB and Louis Vuitton again partnering on the stone.
The arrangement with HB prevented a heavier decline in Lucara’s sales in the third quarter, the first period in which income from the partnership started appearing in the miner’s top line.
Group revenue fell 9% year on year to $41.3 million in the three months ending September 30, reflecting Lucara’s decision not to hold its usual tenders of stones above 10.8 carats, the company reported Wednesday. Instead, it sold 5,633 carats through the HB partnership, with sales taking place approximately twice a month, while the miner’s online selling platform, Clara, boosted sales of smaller goods.
Total sales volume fell 3% to 112,943 carats, with the average price down 6% to $365 per carat. The company’s net loss deepened by 35% to $5.4 million.
“Lucara is now receiving regular, predictable revenue for its [10.8-carat-plus] diamonds using a superior pricing mechanism based on estimated polished outcomes less a commission and the cost of polishing,” Thomas added.
Petra Diamonds (PDL.L) has agreed to sell its Botswanan exploration assets to Botswana Diamonds (BODP.L) for $300,000 and a 5% royalty on future revenue, the diamond miner, which is in the process of restructuring, said on Monday.
The purchase price will be payable in two equal instalments on or before August 31, 2021 and August 31, 2022, Petra said. Botswana Diamonds has the option to buy out the royalty for $2 million in cash.
Petra’s subsidiary Sekaka Diamonds Exploration (Pty) Limited, which Botswana Diamonds would take over, holds three prospecting licences including the KX36 project, which has an indicated resource of 17.9 million tonnes at 35 carats per hundred tonnes.
Botswana Diamonds managing director James Campbell said KX36 would be the company’s most advanced project in southern Africa, and Sekaka’s exploration database would also be “hugely complementary” to its current activities.
Petra, which has been planning to sell Sekaka since June 2018, said the deal is separate to the sales process it announced last month as part of its restructuring.
“The first tranche of the purchase consideration is not expected to be received until August 2021, making the sale too long-dated to help with Petra’s immediate cash flow challenges,” said BMO analyst Edward Sterck.
The sale still requires approval from the Botswana Competition Commission, ministerial consent in Botswana, and approval from Petra’s lenders and debtholders.
Campbell said he hopes the deal will be sealed by August 31.
Botswana Diamonds said Tuesday that it recovered the first diamonds from plant commissioning activities on its Marsfontein mine in Limpopo, South Africa.
The announcement comes only days after it received a mining permit for diamond-bearing gravels and residual unprocessed stockpiles around the operation.
Chairman John Teeling said the plant was very close to reaching full operations following the installation of an in-field screen, two rotary pans, grease and x-ray recovery system.
“I am delighted with the rapid progress the team has made on-site and it is noteworthy that the first diamonds were recovered within two weeks of the mining permit being granted,” Teeling said.
The Marsfontein mine was operated for two years in the late 1990s, with a payback of its entire development costs in less than four days. The mine’s grade was 172 carats per hundred tonnes, at a bottom cut-off of more than 1.2 mm, containing many fancy coloured diamonds.
The surrounding deposits in question were overlooked when the mine was closed.
Diamond miners are struggling across the board, especially those producing cheaper and smaller stones where there is an over-supply in the market.
Buyers, those that polish and cut diamonds for retailers, have been hit this year by lower prices and tighter credit, prompting them to delay purchases.
De Beers, the world’s top diamond producer by value, has responded by axing production — with a target of 31 million carats this year compared with 35.3 million in 2018.
It has also announced it would spend more on marketing. At the latest sale, the company increased the amount of stones buyers were allowed to reject in each lot purchased from 10% to 20%, according to people familiar with the auction.
