AMN - ANGOLA: More large diamonds from Lulo

Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners, Empresa Nacional de Diamantes EP (Endiama) and Rosas & Petalas, have recovered more large diamonds from the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola. The latest recoveries of large Specials include Type IIa diamonds weighing 83 carats and 68 carats while five other +50 carat diamonds have also been recovered recently.

The latest large diamond recoveries follow the return of alluvial mining activities to Mining Block 8 at Lulo, which has been a prolific producer of large and premium-value diamonds. This includes Angola’s biggest recorded diamond - the 404 carat 4th February Stone, which sold for US$16 million.

The seven recent +50 carat stones will be included in the next parcel of Lulo diamonds to be sold by Lulo mining company Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo (SML), Lucapa’s 40% owner and operator. That sale is scheduled for September.

The strong cash flows generated from the sale of Lulo diamonds have enabled SML to repay loan funding advanced by Lucapa to develop the alluvial exploration and mining operations, as well as pro-rata distributions to the Lulo partners.

Lucapa has now received US$3.8 million of the US$4 million loan repayment approved by SML, with the remaining amount in the process of being repatriated.

Lucapa has left its US$1.6 million share of the pro-rata SML distribution in Angola to fund the Lulo kimberlite exploration program, which aims to identify the primary hard-rock sources of the exceptional Lulo alluvial diamonds being recovered, which achieved the highest per carat sale prices in the world in 2016.

This aggressive exploration program involves three rigs drilling kimberlite targets which were upgraded and re-classified from the results of an extensive Time Domain Electromagnetic (TDEM) survey flown over the Cacuilo Valley area, where the Lulo alluvial mining operations are focused.

Lulo is a 3000 square kilometre concession in the diamond heartland of the country, which is the world’s fifth largest diamonds producing nation. Adding further prospectivity to the project, it is within 150km of Catoca - the world’s fourth biggest kimberlite mine.

www.lucapa.com.au