Lucara Diamond Reports Q2 Revenues of $38.1 Million

Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX:LUC) released its Q2 2015 results, commenting that its revenues for the quarter came to $38.1 million. Year-to-date, revenues sit at $138.1 million.
Other Q2 highlights include:

Net cash position: The Company’s second quarter end cash balance was $74.0 million compared to $82.1 million in the previous year and $100.8 million at the end of 2014. The June cash balance excludes $1.6 million of cash received after the quarter end for its June tender and revenue from the Company’s exceptional stone tender held in July. The Company currently has a cash and receivable position of $130.2 million following its July exceptional stone tender.
Adjusted Earnings per share: Adjusted earnings per share was $0.02 per share for the three month period ended June 30, 2015 and $0.04 per share for the six month period ended June 30, 2015 ($0.10 and $0.13 earnings per share for the three and six months to June 30, 2014 respectively).
Karowe and the Plant Optimization Project: Mining has performed well with ore mined in line with forecast and waste mining ahead of schedule. The plant optimization circuits have now been commissioned and fully integrated into the process facility. The XRT machines have performed extremely well recovering many of the large and high value diamonds sold in the Company’s July exceptional stone tender. The Company is currently working on optimization of the dense medium separation circuit to maximize the recovery efficiency on the smaller, lower value diamonds processed through the plant.
Botswana Prospecting Licenses: In 2014, the Company was awarded two precious stone prospecting licenses located within a distance of 15 km and 30 km from Karowe respectively. The Company’s construction of a bulk sampling plant is largely complete. Commissioning is on schedule for the third quarter with core drilling and bulk sampling activities to commence on receipt of the approved environmental management plan.

William Lamb, president and CEO of Lucara, commented:

We are pleased to have achieved strong operational results and cash flows during the year, highlighted by our exceptional stone tender which the market continues to recognize as offering very high quality diamonds. The Company is currently in a very strong financial position despite what has been a more difficult period for the diamond industry.
The plant optimization project has been completed on schedule and within budget. The large diamond recovery is performing extremely well as evidenced by the recovery of large stones that contributed to the last exceptional stone tender. We are now working on optimizing the recovery of our smaller, lower value diamonds.

Click here to read the full Lucara Diamond Corp. (TSX:LUC) press release.