Lucapa Marks Successful Diamond Tender
13th October 2023
By: Esmarie Iannucci
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor: Australasia
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company has announced revenues of A$15.7-million from the sale of seven exceptional diamonds from its Lulo operation, in Angola.
The company sold 534.9 ct by tender, achieving an average price of $29 401/ct. Of the seven diamonds sold during the tender, the 180 ct Type II white diamond recovered in June this year, and a 66 ct pink diamond, attracted the highest prices per tonne.
“This tender demonstrates that the weakness being experienced currently in the smaller goods which go into the mainstream diamond jewellery market doesn’t seem to have translated into the large, high-quality stones, where demand and prices remain robust,” said Lucapa MD and CEO Nick Selby.
Other high-value diamonds included in the parcel were a 10 ct pink as well as white diamonds weighing 96 ct, 77 ct, and two weighing 51 ct each. 
Lulo lies in Angola’s diamond heartland of Lunda Norte, 630km east of the capital, Luanda.
The 3000 km2 concession is one of the world’s most prolific alluvial diamond fields.
Commercial production at Lulo Alluvial Mine commenced in 2015 through the alluvial mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML). SML is a partnership between Lucapa Diamonds (40%) and Angola’s Endiama (32%) and private Angolan company Rosas & Petalas (28%).
Lulo regularly produces large, premium Type IIa diamonds. To date, more than 35 +100 carat diamonds have been recovered from Lulo.
Lulo is home to some of the largest recorded diamonds recovered in Angola.
The largest recorded diamonds in Angola’s history have been recovered at Lulo, they are the “4th February Stone” (weighing 404 carats), an un-named 227 carat white diamond and the “Lulo Rose”, a 170 carat pink coloured diamond.
Lulo commands the highest price per carat for alluvial diamonds in the world and has proven to be a prolific producer of special sized diamonds (those over 10.8 carats in weight) and fancy coloured diamonds in hues of pink and yellow.
Lulo’s alluvial processing facility is a 1.1 million tonne per annum plant which includes an XRT (X-Ray Transmission) diamond recovery technology that is capable of recovering individual diamonds up to 1,100 carats.
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see also:
Inaugural tender delivers Lucapa Diamond Company $22.9m payday
Lucapa Chief to Exit After Nearly a Decade
