Lesotho’s Mothae Kimberlite Mine produces first diamonds

by Ina King (Potgieter)

The first diamond recoveries from the Mothae Kimberlite Mine in Lesotho were announced on 12 February by 70% mine shareholder Lucapa Diamond Company Limited (Lucapa). The remaining 30% shareholding is held by the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho.

The initial diamond recoveries were sourced from residual material and kimberlite stockpiles not included in the Mothae JORC* resource, with the largest diamond recovered in the first test run measuring 6.6 carats. All investment opportunities for this mining project, and many others, are available on Africa Mining IQ. Bulk sampling will begin in the March 2018 quarter.

Quality diamond resource location

The Mothae kimberlite pipe is a high-quality diamond resource located within 5 kilometres of Letšeng Diamond Mine, the highest US$ per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world. Under Mothae’s Phase 1 development programme, Lucapa is currently constructing a 150 tonne-per-hour diamond treatment plant with XRT recovery technology. Full commissioning and commercial production is expected to begin in the second half of 2018.

Progress on these developments, as well as key contact details, are regularly updated on the Africa Mining IQ intelligence portal. Companies that subscribe to Africa Mining IQ receive e-mail alerts about new developments, completed expansions and production expectations when they are announced.

Looking ahead

Interestingly for investors, Lucapa is advancing exploration programmes at another 2 diamond projects. One of them is outside the scope of African mining, with the identified site in Western Australia. The other, however, is Orapa Area F in Botswana’s Orapa diamond field. Identified targets will be drilled during the course of 2018. Africa Mining IQ organises projects in terms grassroots, pre-feasibility, feasibility, bankable, active and operational phases. This enables subscribers to easily find the up-to-date status on any project.

Lucapa’s BSP (better sourcing programme) has been designed to provide additional resources and diamond data to expand the life of mine while generating early cash flow.

Mining projects in the Lesotho that are listed on Mining IQ’s database currently profiles 8 diamond projects, with no other minerals currently mined. With over 1 900 projects currently listed on its online database (February 2018), Africa Mining IQ’s database covers extensive listings on the continent’s prominent minerals. A subscription to Africa Mining IQ provides members with the ability to track, target and record these mining projects with accurate information. All data is updated daily and accessible 24/7, 365 days a year.

Lucapa – an emerging global with a portfolio of production, development and exploration assets in Angola, Lesotho and Botswana, as well as Australia – focuses on high value diamond production. This focus is designed to protect cash flows in a sector of the diamond market where demand remains robust.

Africa Mining IQ is the continent’s largest online mining portal.

*JORC is a professional code of practice that sets minimum standards for Public Reporting of minerals Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves in Australasia. It stands for Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves – referred to as ‘the JORC Code’.