Lucara Diamond Reports Slight Rise On Yr In Q2 Revenues To $79.6M

(IDEX Online) – Lucara Diamond Corp. reported second quarter revenues of $79.6 million, or $1,336 per carat.

That compares with $77.7 million in the corresponding quarter last year, or $140.8 million including the sale of the 813-carat Constellation stone for $63.1 million.

William Lamb, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented: "Sales in the first half achieved extremely strong prices and with our focus on cost control, the Karowe mine continues to deliver strong operating margins. We have worked with our new mine contractor to improve performance during Q2 and Q3, and our mining department is now achieving our productivity targets. Our focus on the process plant is to complete the capital projects, further enhancing diamond recovery by the end of Q3 this year. This will place the Karowe mine in an even stronger position to maximize value from the recovery and sale of diamonds from the high value south lobe."

The miner paid a dividend in the second quarter of $C2.5 cents per share, or $7.1 million, on June 15, bringing the total dividend paid in 2017 to $14.2 million.