Lulo’s diamond resource up to 154K Cts

Apr 04, 2023

Lucapa Diamond Company provide an updated JORC Classified Inferred Alluvial Diamond Resource for the Lulo diamond concession in Angola. The updated Lulo Diamond Resource was independently estimated and reconciled on a depletion and addition basis to 31 December 2022 by external consultants, Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants (Pty) Ltd.

The updated Lulo Diamond Resource was estimated after taking into account,

1: Mining depletion to 31 December 2022 by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo mining operations, during which time 35,398 carats were recovered from 572,708 bulk cubic metres of gravel.

2: The delineation of new and/ or additional resources and improved knowledge of existing resource areas through extensive ~9,300 hole auger drilling and ~2,150 hole pitting programs; and 3: Sales of diamond production in 2022, totaling US$79.6m at an average price of US$2,449/ carat.

After accounting for mining depletion of 35,398 carats during the 2022 calendar year, the alluvial exploration activities undertaken during the year increased the Lulo Diamond Resource in-situ carats by two percent to 153,870 carats. This is the 5th consecutive year the resource carats have increased, despite the significant increase in mining and processing capacities over the last seven years.

The steep recovery in the diamond market in 2021 and early 2022 had a positive effect on diamond valuations and sales. The modelled diamond value has been escalated using the global natural rough diamond price index up to 31st December 2022, as provided by GTD Consultants, an independent diamond valuation consultancy.

The modelled diamond values have increased by 3.5% from US$1,930/ carat to US$2,000/ carat on average. To date, ~167,000 carats of diamonds have been recovered on the Lulo concession and sold by SML for ~US$348 million, at an average price of ~US$2,100/ carat.

The Lulo alluvial resource blocks and those informing the Lulo Diamond Resource estimate at 31 December 2022 are outlined in Map 1 below. The total diluted volume of gravel available for mining in the updated Lulo Diamond Resource increased to 2.64Mm3. This equates to a minimum of four years of resource at SML’s current mining and processing capacities.

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