Rough resources at Lucapa Diamond Company’s Lulo mine in Angola rose 9% in 2024, the seventh consecutive year the site has seen an increase.
The figure, which refers to the volume of diamonds with a reasonable prospect of being extracted economically, climbed to 249,000 carats as of December 31, from 228,400 carats a year earlier, the company said Thursday. The miner had the asset independently estimated by South Africa’s Z Star Mineral Resource Consultants.
The study valued the resources at $1,581 per carat, down 17% from $1,897 in December 2023. While the diamond grade slipped slightly to 4.30 carats per 10 cubic meters, the number of stones the company expected to recover grew 11% to 201,100 and the average size of rough was 1.24 carats per stone, versus 1.26 carats the previous year.
The increased resources do not add time to Lulo’s production beyond the extra eight years the miner announced a year ago. In 2024, Lulo’s diamond sales came to $54.5 million, at an average price of $1,980 per carat.
Image: A rough diamond from the Lulo mine. (Lucapa Diamond Company)
