Australia-headquartered diamond miner Lucapa Diamond Company said its first diamond sale in 2021 achieved $5.6 million at $1,198 per carat, the highest dollar per carat price ever achieved by Mothae at sale. The company noted that Mothae would further benefit from margins earned on cutting and polishing.

The sale included a number of specials (diamonds weighing >10.8 carats), including the 101-carat D colour diamond recovered following re-opening of the mine in Q4 2020, which is the most valuable diamond recovered to date at Mothae.

Lucapa Managing Director, Stephen Wetherall said, “Following a tough 2020, where both of our mines were impacted by the pandemic, our valued teams have shown their resilience and operations have bounced back strongly. The good recoveries at both mines and growing demand leading to strengthening diamond prices has seen a strong start to 2021. We look forward to Mothae receiving further value following implementation of the cutting & polishing partnership and to completing the expansion at Mothae this quarter.”