Lucara Diamond Corp. Announces Q1 2013 Results

 Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX:LUC) announced its first quarter 2013 results, which included two sales totaling 144,712 carats for proceeds of $32.5 million from its Karowe Mine in Botswana.

As quoted in the press release:

Karowe Mine – Botswana

• During the first quarter of 2013 the Company completed two sales totalling 144,712 carats for proceeds of $32.5 million. The 2013 sales included six parcels totalling 18,233 carats, which were withheld from the December 2012 sale due to low volumes of competitive bidding. Excluding the December inventory sold in January, the average sales price for full 2013 production sold was $243 per carat. Total sales forecast for 2013 is 400,000 carats.
• The Company sold its second blue stone, a 4.77 carat diamond in its March sale for $1.6 million or $341,416 per carat.
• During the period the Company recovered a number of significant gem quality diamonds from its run of mine production. This includes 6 diamonds in excess of 50 carats and 28 diamonds between 20 and 50 carats. The company is planning its first large and exceptional stone tender in May, which is in addition to its normally planned tender of over 50,000 carats of diamond. The diamonds which will be sold during the large stone tender can be seen on the Company’s website.

Lucara Diamond Corp. President and CEO, William Lamb, said:

Lucara had solid operational performance and sales for the first quarter continuing the growth trend from 2012. Also continuing is the recovery of high quality diamonds from the Karowe Mine. An exceptional 239 carat stone was recently recovered as well as several excellent quality stones greater than 50 carats. This along with the multiple recoveries of extremely rare and valuable blue diamonds highlights the importance of this new mine. We are planning to conduct our first special large stone tender in May in addition to our normal tender (twice quarterly) of diamonds which is in excess of 50,000 carats.

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