Mothae Mine discovers a huge stone

MASERU – The recently opened Mothae Kimberlite Mine has just recovered a 126 carat diamond, its first largest quality stone since commercial operations began in January.

According to a statement issued by the ministry of mining,  the stone is the sixth +50 carats diamond discovered since the Lucapa Diamond Company commenced its pre-production bulk sampling programme at Mothae in 2018.

The statement shows that this comes shortly after Lucapa and its partners recovered a 130 carat gem-quality diamond from the Company’s high value Lulo alluvial mine in Angola.

It adds that the 126 gem stone value will be communicated later after going through the boiling stage with an intention to improve its worth in the diamond market.

Meanwhile, the government of Lesotho awarded mining rights to the Australia based Lucapa Diamond Company in April 2017, to develop the mine which had been idle since 2015.

This company has completed the trial mining and currently at the commercial stage.

Lucapa is the 70 majority shareholder while the government holds the remaining 30 percent shares.

Mothae Mine was acquired by Lucapa Diamonds at the cost of over M129 million in 2017, and in order to commence their full scale operations, they have invested more than M280 million for the construction of phase one of the commercial and the bulk sampling operations. LeNA/PE