Lucara recovers 341 carat white diamond

341 carat white diamond found at the Karowe mine in Botswana

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.

Source: mining.com

Botswana Diamonds acquires Sekaka from embattled Petra

Botswana Diamonds

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.

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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.

Source: mining.com

Lucara recovers 998Carat Rough Diamond

998 carat rough diamond

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.

Source: Diamonds.net

Petra Diamonds sells Botswana exploration assets

Petra Diamonds

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 digs up first stones at South African mine

botswanadiamonds-southafrica

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.

Source: mining.com

Lucara finds blue and pink diamonds at Botswana mine

lucara blue and pink rough diamonds

Canada’s Lucara Diamond continues to find gem quality, coloured diamonds at its Karowe mine, in Botswana, which in April yielded the 1,758 carat Sewelô meaning “rare find” diamond, the largest ever recovered in the African country.

The Vancouver based miner has now recovered a 9.74 carat blue and a 4.13 carat pink diamond from direct milling of the South Lobe, the area that yielded the famous 1,111 carat “Lesedi La Rona” in 2015.

The announcement comes on the heels of last week’s display of a 123 carat gem quality, top white, Type II diamond, found at the same section of the mine.

It also follows the recent sale of a 2.24 carat blue for $347,222 per carat.

Karowe, which began commercial operations in 2012, has this year yielded 22 diamonds larger than 100 carats, eight of them exceeding 200 carats.

Since the start of the year, the miner has sold 19 diamonds each with an individual price in excess of $1 million at its quarterly tender sales. This includes seven diamonds that fetched more than $2 million each, and one diamond that carried a final price tag of over $8 million.

“Lucara is extremely pleased with the recovery of these rare, sizeable, fancy coloured diamonds, which have the potential to contribute meaningful value to our regular production of large, high-value type IIa diamonds,” chief executive, Eira Thomas, said in the statement.

The precious rocks will be put up for sale in December, during the company’s fourth quarter tender.

Lucara, which has focused efforts on the prolific Botswana mine this year, is close to completing a feasibility study into potential underground production and life of mine expansion at Karowe.

Source: mining.com

Botswana Diamonds identifies five targets likely to be kimberlites

Botswana Diamonds Thorny River

The targets identified are very similar to the pipe that constituted the high-grade and famous De Beers Marsfontein mine, in so much as the pipe had little surface indication due to dolerite rock cover but grew and swelled below the dolerite.

Much of the Thorny River area geology is comprised of a dolerite dyke swarm.

John Teeling, chairman, comments:

“It has long been held that there should be high grade kimberlite pipes other than the Marsfontein mine in the Thorny River area.

“The geology made discovery difficult. New geophysical technology tries to see through the dense dolerite cover.

“The company pioneering the work, Subterrane, believe they have identified five targets likely to be kimberlites.

“We are working to better define where to drill. The targets are shallow so will not be expensive to drill”.

Conventional geophysical techniques have been unable to detect kimberlites under the dolerite including those that are deeper seated. Subterrane, a partner using its proprietary technology, enables the company to explore geophysical anomalies beneath the dolerite and those that are buried.

This could lead to the discovery of kimberlites similar to Marsfontein.

Thus far Subterrane has identified five such target areas within the Thorny River project.

Source: miningreview

Botswana Diamonds Shares Jump On Licence Extension

Botswana diamonds

Shares in Botswana Diamonds PLC jumped Thursday after it extended two “strategic” diamond licences for further two years, as it considered forming a joint venture to develop the projects.

Shares in Botswana Diamonds were 9.9% higher at 0.54 pence in London on Thursday.

Botswana Diamonds – through its wholly-owned Sunland Minerals Ltd subsidiary – extended the Prospecting Licences PL232 and PL235 in Botswana to the end of September 2021.

The firm explained the “key” licences were “strategically located” in the centre of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, covering 500 square kilometres. Botswana Diamonds has already identified “prospective drill ready targets” following “intensive” work at the sites.

Botswana Diamonds said it was “already in extended discussions” with a “major” diamond producer regarding the formation of a joint venture for the next phase of the work on the licences.

Source: morningstar

Vutomi to sell diamonds recovered from South Africa project

Vutomi Diamonds

Botswana Diamonds associate Vutomi has received approval to sell diamonds recovered during a bulk sampling programme at the Thorny River project in South Africa.

The Thorny River bulk sampling project is a joint venture between SouthernEra, Palaeo and Vutomi.

SouthernEra holds a 40% interest in the project and provides processing services while Palaeo holds a 40% stake and serves as the mining contractor. The remaining 20% interest is owned by Vutomi, which provides the ground.

Until 10 June, 256 carat of rough diamonds were recovered. Sale of these diamonds from the bulk sampling will fund further development by Vutomi, in which Botswana holds a 40% stake.

The trenching programme has identified a hotspot at the project site with a thick, 4m wide kimberlite intersection, indicating a kimberlite blow.

According to Botswana Diamonds, the bulk sampling programme is expected to generate short-term cash flow while developing the mineral resource.

Botswana Diamonds’ partner, SouthernEra Diamonds, has included its coarse tailings dumps produced from the mining of the Marsfontein and Klipspringer diamond mines into the same revenue share partnership agreement.

Vutomi has obtained a Section 27 mining permit for a portion of the contiguous Marsfontein farm.

Part of this farm hosts rich M8 kimberlite dyke, bordering the Marsfontein diamond mine.

Botswana Diamonds is a diamond exploration and project development company with exploration licences in Botswana and South Africa.

Source: mining-technology.com

De Beers, Botswana Prep for New Sales Deal

De Beers Botswana

Botswana once again finds itself at a crossroads. The sparsely populated, landlocked country is in a constant battle to ensure the longevity of its diamond industry.

Recognizing that diamond mining will not last forever, the government’s beneficiation program has sought to establish cutting and polishing, trading, and auxiliary services in an effort to diversify its industry — and economy — away from its reliance on the mining sector.

Beyond mining

De Beers, which counts around 59% of its production by value in Botswana, has played no small part in that effort. It did so initially by earmarking a part of its rough supply to be manufactured in Botswana, and today there are 18 sightholders with factories in the country. In 2013, De Beers moved its sales headquarters to Gaborone, meaning that its 10 annual sights were taken out of London, thus diverting traffic and diamond-related activity to the African city.

Furthermore, the establishment of the parastatal Okavango Diamond Company that same year gave the government access to 15% of production by Debswana, its joint mining venture with De Beers. That was the first time substantial rough sales from Debswana took place outside of the De Beers system.

The 2011 agreement that governed those developments is up for renewal in 2020, and negotiations are expected to begin in the coming year. For its part, the government is seeking to increase supply to local sightholders as a means of creating more jobs, newly elected President Mokgweetsi Masisi told Bloomberg in May.

Some question whether Botswana can handle more manufacturing, given that a few factories have closed in recent years. If profitability remains the biggest challenge facing manufacturers, Gaborone has yet to prove itself as a viable center for high-volume cutting. Perhaps De Beers can play a further role there, too.

The government will also likely want to increase the percentage of Debswana supply that Okavango receives. And it might want to renegotiate greater access to the large and high-value diamonds Debswana recovers.

Digging deep

Botswana has some leverage in the relationship with De Beers. It owns a 15% stake in the group, with Anglo American holding the remaining 85%. And the two are equal partners in Debswana and in DTC Botswana, which sorts and mixes production for De Beers and Okavango.

De Beers, meanwhile, brings to the table its mining expertise and budget. In 2010, it committed to investing $3 billion over 15 years in the Cut-8 expansion of the Jwaneng mine — considered the world’s most valuable diamond-producing asset.

That project is already the main source of ore at Jwaneng and is expected to  extend the life of mine to 2030 and by some 93 million carats. Studies for the viability of Cut-9 are under way, which would further extend the life of Jwaneng. A final investment decision on the project is expected later this year, reports a De Beers spokesperson.

De Beers could use the potential Cut-9 investment, as well as funding extensions at the Orapa and Letlhakane mines, as a bargaining tool in negotiations with the government.

African investments

De Beers walks a similarly fine line in other African countries where it operates.

In South Africa, it may have to reduce ownership of its local businesses from 74% to 70% under the new mining charter, as the government wants to see more local black economic empowerment (BEE) involvement. That said, De Beers is engaged in a $2 billion project to develop underground mining at the Venetia asset. From next year, Venetia will be its only mine in South Africa, as it plans to close the Voorspoed mine. It has already sold the Finsch, Cullinan and Kimberley operations over the past decade.

Meanwhile, in May 2016, De Beers signed a 10-year sales agreement with Namibia, in which it ceded 15% of local supply to the government and promised more diamonds to local cutters. The company subsequently announced major investments in its marine mining operations off the Namibian coast.

It’s that give-and-take that Masisi is hoping will result in a “win-win” for both parties as they negotiate their next long-term deal — especially given that so much of Botswana’s future diamond production depends on Jwaneng’s expansion.

“We have had a wonderful relationship with De Beers, and we expect that relationship to be even more cemented,” the president told Bloomberg in May. “The returns [from the Jwaneng development] are going to be realized in the period of the next deal. This is a marriage we’re after.”

This article was first published in the July issue of Rapaport Magazine.