LUCARA TO ENTER PARTNERSHIP TO SELL LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND

The 1,109-carat, colorless/white, Type 11a “Lesedi La Rona” rough diamond, the second largest gem-quality rough diamond ever discovered, recovered from Lucara Diamond Corporation’s Karowe Mine situated at Botswana, on November 16, 2015, has up to now remained unsold, since the diamond was offered for sale at Sotheby’s London, stand-alone auction on June 29, 2016 and realized a highest bid of only US$ 61 million, which fell far short of its undisclosed reserve price. Since Lucara Diamond Corporation has failed to secure a buyer for the diamond within the time frame set by them, the company might enter into a partnership to sell the Lesedi La Rona diamond.

 

LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND
LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND

Lucara CEO William Lamb said last week that if the company is unable to find a buyer for the rough diamond within the next six to eight weeks, it might consider entering into a revenue sharing deal to sell the 1,109-carat rough diamond. Under such an agreement, Lucara would likely sell a stake in the stone to another company, while retaining the rights to a percentage of future polished proceeds.

 

ANOTHER VIEW OF LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND
ANOTHER VIEW OF LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND

According to Lamb while Lucara had one or two options for selling the rock, efforts so far had not yielded any results. After the diamond fell short of its reserve price at a Sotheby’s auction in June 2016, William Lamb said in December 2016 that the miner planned to sell the stone by the end of June, 2017, but this has not materialized.

 

LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND
LESEDI LA RONA DIAMOND

The rough diamond, the second-largest ever found is valued at about US $70 million, according to Lamb. However, the CEO said, even excluding the potential sale of the Lesedi La Rona diamond in 2017, Lucara still expects revenues of US$ 200 million to US$ 220 million for the year.

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