Lucapa Diamond Company Ltd has acquired a 70-percent stake in Mothae Diamonds (Pty) Ltd, which holds mining rights to the Mothae kimberlite diamond project in Lesotho, South Africa.
Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall said the acquisition is in line with Lucapa’s strategy of continued growth as a diamond producer. Mothae complements the high-value Lulo diamond mine and prospective exploration assets in the Lulo kimberlite project, he added.
“There is only one thing better than owning one diamond mine that produces large high-value diamonds – that is owning two of such assets. Mothae is a fantastic diamond asset, located in a cluster of operating diamond mines in Lesotho. Similar to Lulo in Angola, the Mothae kimberlite pipe hosts large premium-value and Type IIA diamonds,” noted Wetherall.
With the acquisition, Mothae Diamonds (Pty) Ltd will be awarded a new 10-year mining lease, covering the Mothae kimberlite project area, with a right to extend for another 10 years.
According to Lucapa, the Mothae diamond resource is supported by extensive trial mining, drilling programmes and geological modelling conducted between 2008 and 2012. During this time, 31 bulk samples totalling 603,000 tonnes were extracted and processed from various locations and depths in three phases.
From these samples, a total of 23,446 carats of diamonds were recovered at an average grade of 3.88 carats per 100 tonnes using a bottom cut-off size of -2mm. The diamonds recovered included many large and high-purity Type IIA diamonds, noted Lucapa.
[Source:- jewellerynewsasia.]