Lulo Alluvial Mine had a solid performance in 2023 with further gains made in production and operational efficiencies due to previous capital investment into plant and equipment upgrades combined with those made during the year.
However, the 30,585 carats recovered, included three +100 carat diamonds, a 150 carat, a 180 carat and a 123 carat stone recovered in February, June and October respectively. Also, two +200 carat diamonds, a 208 carat and a 235 carat stone were recovered in October and November. This brought the total number of +100 carat diamonds recovered at Lulo since operations began to 40.
The large stone recoveries combined with several fancy pink and fancy yellow coloured diamonds meant that rough diamond revenue was still in line with the previous year at US$77.3 million (US$79.6m in 2022) at an increased average price per carat of US$2,700 compared with the US$2,449 achieved in 2022.
An updated JORC classified mineral resource for Lulo was published by Lucapa in March 2024, estimating an inferred resource of 228,400 carats at a modelled value of US$1,897/carat as at 31 December 2023. This is a 48 percent increase in resource carats and a 5 percent drop in the price per carat as a reflection of the softening of diamond prices over 2023.
The volume of gravel in the resource update has been increased by 90% to 5.02 million cubic metres, equivalent to 8 years production at planned mining and processing capacities. This is the 6th consecutive year the Lulo alluvial resource carats have increased.
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