Lucara pulls 1,758-ct near gem from Karowe mine

According to Mining News Pro - In November 2015,the company unearthed the 1,100-carat gem quality Lesedi La Rona. This stone was recently shaped into a 302-carat square cut emerald by Graff Diamonds (see CMJ news for April 23, 2019).

The 1,758-carat stone was recovered from Kawore’s XRT circuit commissioned in 2015. The black gem measures 84 x 62 x 46 mm and includes domains of high quality white gem. Since the circuit became operational, 12 diamonds in excess of 300 carats have been recovered. Eleven of them have been sold generating revenue in excess of US$158 million.

Karowe has now produced two diamonds greater than 1,000 carats in just four years, affirming the coarse nature of the resource and the likelihood of recovering additional, large, high quality diamonds in the future, particularly as we mine deeper in the orebody and gain access to the geologically favourable EM/PK(S) unit, the source of both of our record breaking, +1,000 carat diamonds.”