Lucapa Says Se251 Kimberlite At Lulo Is Diamond Bearing

Lucapa has recovered four diamonds from its preliminary kimberlite sampling program at Se251. This included three diamonds weighing a total of 1.75 carats recovered from the No. 7 pit at the Se251 kimberlite pipe and one diamond weighing 0.10 carats from the No. 6b pit.

The biggest of the kimberlite diamonds weighed 1.05 carats. The kimberlite diamonds from the No. 7 pit have been described by Lucapa’s site manager at Lulo as being of “good shape, good color.”

Lucapa plans to use a Yehuda ZVI colorimeter, when available, to assess and confirm the quality and color of the kimberlite diamonds recovered from Se251.

With a surface area of approximately 220 hectares, Se251 is the largest kimberlite pipe identified by Lucapa within the 3,000 sq km Lulo diamond concession. Lulo is located approximately 150km from Catoca, which is the fourth largest kimberlite diamond mine in the world.

The Se251 site has been considered a priority exploration target for Lucapa since the company’s geological team identified the kimberlite pipe as a likely source of the large and valuable alluvial diamonds being recovered from the same area within the Lulo concession.

Lucapa has sold 867.5 carats of alluvial diamonds recovered from the exploration phase at Lulo for gross proceeds of approximately $6 million, representing an exceptional average price of $6,960 per carat.

Lucapa Managing Director Miles Kennedy said he was delighted that Lucapa had recovered kimberlite diamonds within the first two weeks of kimberlite sample being processed through the company’s new Dense Media Separation (DMS) diamond plant at Lulo.

“I regard the recovery of these diamonds from Se251 as extremely significant because it establishes beyond doubt that this huge pipe, covering some 220 hectares (over 500 acres), is indeed diamondiferous,” said Kennedy. “It has taken Lucapa six years to get to this point, which is only the beginning of the road ahead.

“Se251 is, of course, only one of eight pipes Lucapa has identified proximal to where we have been recovering magnificent alluvial diamonds, and we will move on to conduct preliminary sampling of Se257 and the remaining pipes in this area to see what results emerge.”

“Once we have carried out preliminary sampling of these priority pipes, we will prioritize our target or targets and begin the systematic evaluation necessary to determine the economics of any kimberlite diamond deposit. By its nature, this is a slow and methodical process, with no shortcuts.”