Lucapa starts picking up diamonds at its brand new mine

Diamond miner Lucapa has finally started commercial diamond recoveries from its new “Mothae” mine in the African nation of Lesotho.

Commercial recoveries were originally scheduled for early November, but Lucapa (ASX:LOM) was battling winter snowfalls and high altitudes during the Mothae processing plant commissioning phase.

The Lucapa share price – which has traded between 19.5c and 31.5c over the past 12 months – was up about 2.5 per cent to 20.5c on the news.

Lucapa boss Stephen Wetherall told investors that the junior was on track to become one of a few listed diamond companies globally with more than one producing mine.

Mothae will complement Lucapa’s Lulo mine in Angola, which apparently boasts the world’s highest average dollar-per-carat alluvial diamond production.

“The high-quality nature of this production from Lulo and Mothae will also enable the group to further its value-enhancing downstream strategy through partnerships with global diamantaires [diamond cutting experts], where discussions are well advanced,” Mr Weatherall said.