The 227 carat diamond is the second largest diamond recovered from Lulo mine. Image: Lucapa Diamond Company.
By Elizabeth Fabri
ASX-listed Lucapa Diamond Company has discovered a 227 carat diamond at its Lulo mine in Angola, taking the company’s tally of 100ct plus diamonds found at the mine up to seven.
The Type IIa D-colour gem was recovered from the new mining area 28 at Lulo, and is the second largest diamond recovered in Angola to date behind the 404c 4th February Stone discovered last year.
The stone was also the largest recovered from the company’s new XRT large-diamond recovery circuit commissioned in the December quarter.
Lucapa managing director Stephen Wetherall said the company was delighted to uncover the stone within a week of their one year anniversary of the 4th February Stone find.
“We are also delighted to have recovered this spectacular diamond from a new mining area at Lulo which is 4km from the prolific Mining Block 8 area,” Mr Wetherall said.
“This further underlines the potential there is for the remainder of the about 50km stretch of the Cacuilo River to continue to produce large valuable alluvial diamonds.
“The recovery of the 227 carat diamond through the new XRT circuit also vindicates our investment in this large diamond recovery technology, which will have more than paid for itself with the recovery of this one stone alone.”
Lucapa also uncovered a 62ct diamond from the Mining Block 25 area at Lulo in February, further bolstering the region’s resource wealth.
“We look forward to the remainder of 2017 with great excitement as we continue to advance our kimberlite drilling and alluvial mining operations at Lulo,” he said.
