Perth: The Mothae mining project in Lesotho contains mineral resources worth an estimated $1,063 per carat, according to Lucapa Diamond Company, which recently acquired the asset.
Mothae holds 1.04 million carats of diamond resources, with a grade of 2.7 carats per 100 tonnes of ore, the miner said on Friday. The figures resulted from an independent estimate carried out by The MSA Group, a mining consultancy firm based in Johannesburg.
Resources are the quantity of material in a mine that has reasonable prospects for being extracted economically – in contrast to reserves, which are actually known to be mineable at a profit.
Lesotho’s government awarded Lucapa a 70-percent interest in the mine in January in an acquisition valued at $9 million. The company also owns the Lulo mine in Angola, which last year produced diamonds that sold for an average of $2,983 per carat.
