Lucara announces financial results for 2014

Lucara Diamond Corp. has announced its financial results for 2014. It earned revenues worth $266 million, which were 47 percent higher than the previous year, The company attributes this to higher prices received for the Karowe diamonds and a larger number of carats being sold in the large exceptional stones tenders, which contributed $135.6 million to revenues.

Sales totalled 412,136 carats for gross proceeds of $265.5 million at an average price of $644 per carat. The exceptional stone sales resulted in an average price of $32,471 per carat in 2014 (2013: $24,290 per carat, with the remaining tenders achieving $318 per carat (2013: $249 per carat).

The period ended with cash balance of $101 million.

William Lamb, President and Chief Executive Officer said, “We are very pleased that our second full year of operations saw us deliver on our major commitments to our shareholders through operational delivery which resulted in us selling over 412,000 carats for $266 million at an operating margin in excess of 80 percent. We remain disciplined with our deployment of capital focusing on completing our plant optimization program to enhance our recovery of diamonds from Karowe, advancing our exploration program in Botswana and making the decision to dispose of Mothae based on our strict investment criteria.”

He also added that, “We are pleased that the continued recovery of exceptional diamonds at Karowe during the year allowed us to increase our return to shareholders with our special dividend.” The company had announced its first dividend to its shareholders in 2014. According to Lamb, “The long term fundamentals for the rough diamond market continue to be strong.”

In the year, the company was awarded two precious stone prospecting licenses within the Orapa Kimberlite field in close proximity to the Karowe Diamond mine. Also, it announced it would divest of the Mothae project. The performance at Karowe resulted in the recovery of 815 special stones (+10.8 carats; 2013 recovery of 732 specials), including 27 stones greater than 100 carats (2013: 17 stones) and four stones over 200 carats (2013: 4 stones). The plant optimization program is advancing as planned and the plant is expected be commissioned during Q2 2015 within the $55 million forecast cost.