Thursday 3 May 2018

Lucapa recovers large pink diamond in Angola



The company announced that it has recovered a 46 carat pink diamond from the Lulo diamond project in Angola, a source of a series of high carat discoveries in recent years.

What makes this particular find significant for Lucapa is its location. The 46 carat rough diamond was recovered from a new prospect Mining Block 4, an area planned for resource delineation later this year and set to be included in Lucapa’s alluvial JORC resource update to be published in the coming months.

Source: DCLA

Lucapa recovers large pink diamond in Angola



The company announced that it has recovered a 46 carat pink diamond from the Lulo diamond project in Angola, a source of a series of high carat discoveries in recent years.

What makes this particular find significant for Lucapa is its location. The 46 carat rough diamond was recovered from a new prospect Mining Block 4, an area planned for resource delineation later this year and set to be included in Lucapa’s alluvial JORC resource update to be published in the coming months.

Source: DCLA

Monday 30 April 2018

Kimberley Diamonds’ Botswana Mine to Be Auctioned Online



A diamond mine in Botswana will be offered for sale at an online auction after its liquidators failed to secure viable offers.

Online bids for the Lerala Diamond Mine open at 5 p.m. on May 24 and run through 2 p.m. on May 30, according to a statement published in the weekly Monitor newspaper by the auctioneers, GoIndustry DoveBid.
 
Lerala, which is owned by Sydney-based Kimberley Diamonds Ltd., was placed under judicial management in June last year due to weak sales and high operating costs. 
 
 Lerala produced about 59,000 carats in the year leading up to its closure, compared with a published target of 357,000 carats a year, over a seven-year lifespan.
 
On offer are five kimberlite pipes ranging from 0.16 hectare to 2.35 hectares in area, mining rights, a 200 metric tons per hour processing plant, a 4.2 megawatt diesel generator and other assets. Bidders are required to place a refundable deposit of 5 million pula ($509,000).
 
The mine has probable reserves of 5 million tons at a grade of 31 carats per 100 tons and inferred resources of 10.3 million tons at 31 carats per 100 tons.

Source: DCLA

Kimberley Diamonds’ Botswana Mine to Be Auctioned Online



A diamond mine in Botswana will be offered for sale at an online auction after its liquidators failed to secure viable offers.

Online bids for the Lerala Diamond Mine open at 5 p.m. on May 24 and run through 2 p.m. on May 30, according to a statement published in the weekly Monitor newspaper by the auctioneers, GoIndustry DoveBid.
 
Lerala, which is owned by Sydney-based Kimberley Diamonds Ltd., was placed under judicial management in June last year due to weak sales and high operating costs. 
 
 Lerala produced about 59,000 carats in the year leading up to its closure, compared with a published target of 357,000 carats a year, over a seven-year lifespan.
 
On offer are five kimberlite pipes ranging from 0.16 hectare to 2.35 hectares in area, mining rights, a 200 metric tons per hour processing plant, a 4.2 megawatt diesel generator and other assets. Bidders are required to place a refundable deposit of 5 million pula ($509,000).
 
The mine has probable reserves of 5 million tons at a grade of 31 carats per 100 tons and inferred resources of 10.3 million tons at 31 carats per 100 tons.

Source: DCLA

Thursday 26 April 2018

Lucara Diamond Corp. Finds 327-Carat Top White Gem At Karowe Mine



Lucara Diamond Corporation has recovered a 327 carat top colour gem diamond from its one hundred percent owned Karowe diamond mine in Botswana.   
 
Eight rough diamonds larger than 100 carats have now been recovered at Karowe since the beginning of the year, including a 472 carat rough diamond announced earlier this month.  
 
Source: DCLA

Lucara Diamond Corp. Finds 327-Carat Top White Gem At Karowe Mine



Lucara Diamond Corporation has recovered a 327 carat top colour gem diamond from its one hundred percent owned Karowe diamond mine in Botswana.   
 
Eight rough diamonds larger than 100 carats have now been recovered at Karowe since the beginning of the year, including a 472 carat rough diamond announced earlier this month.  
 
Source: DCLA

Wednesday 25 April 2018

Labs Refute Claims HPHT Escaping Detection



Major gemological laboratories have rebuffed claims that detection machines are failing to spot synthetic diamonds that have undergone irradiation.

In a trade alert last week, Diamond Services argued that the treatment, generally used to alter the color of a stone, can mask the phosphorescence effect when diamonds created using High Pressure-High Temperature (HPHT) undergo scanning at room temperature.

While detection machines can often identify HPHT diamonds because they phosphoresce — or glow — under ultra-violet light, certain devices fail to spot some of those stones that have been subject to irradiation, the Hong Kong-based diamond-technology company argued.

However, De Beers and the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) have denied the impact of such a phenomenon on their machines’ ability to sift out HPHT synthetics.

“The International Institute of Diamond Grading and Research (IIDGR) confirms that its instruments AMS2, SYNTHdetect, DiamondView and DiamondSure are all effective at screening HPHT synthetic material which has been irradiated and is tested at room temperature,” the De Beers-owned grading unit said in a statement last week.

“Any business using these devices can have full confidence that any such material will be detected without the need to undertake tests at different temperatures,” it added.

Meanwhile, although detection devices based on phosphorescence may not be able to detect some HPHT-grown irradiated synthetics, the GIA’s machines can spot them, the Carlsbad, California-headquartered laboratory stressed.

“The ability of the instruments that GIA uses to differentiate natural diamonds from HPHT and CVD [chemical vapor deposition]-grown synthetic diamonds, including the GIA iD100 gem-testing device and the GIA Melee Analysis Service, is not affected by irradiation treatment,” the GIA told Rapaport News.

Examining diamonds at the temperature of liquid nitrogen can be an extremely accurate method of detecting synthetics, while a technique called Raman spectroscopy is a simple way of spotting irradiated diamonds, according to Joseph Kuzi, founder and president of Diamond Services.

“Our latest findings indicate that the diamond and jewelry trades should show extra caution, but we do not claim that irradiated HPHT-grown synthetic diamonds are undetectable,” Kuzi said.

Petra Sales Up, Prices Down

Petra Diamonds Operations Petra Diamonds reported increased sales for FY 2024, despite weak market conditions. The UK based miner said it ha...