Lucara see growth opportunities at Karowe
LoM
of Karowe diamond
Extended
from 2026 to 2036
Diamonds
recovered by
Lucara
to be over 300K carats
Lucara
Diamond announced its outlook for 2019 and said; revenue is forecast to be
between $170 million and $200 million!
Karowe
2019 operating cash costs are forecast to be around $32.00 - $37.00 per tonne
processed, significantly lower than in 2018, where the operating cash cost per
tonne processed is expected to be between $38.00 and $42.00. The completion of
a Feasibility Study for underground mine advancement is a key focus for this
year, with a 2019 budget of $14.8 million to complete geotechnical and hydro
geological drilling programs, economic and other studies which started in 2018.
Eira
Thomas, President & CEO commented: "Having stabilized and
significantly improved our mining operations at Karowe in 2018, Lucara is now
focused on optimizing the base business and pursuing a suite of high potential,
organic growth opportunities.
The
completion of a feasibility study examining the potential for underground
production and Life of Mine expansion at Karowe from 2026 until at least 2036
remains a top priority for 2019. In
addition, we will continue to systematically ramp up diamond sales through
Clara, our transformational, proprietary digital sales platform that
successfully completed its first trial sale in December 2018."
She
further communicated that, "Our focus at Karowe in 2019 will be on driving
operational efficiencies, increased productivity and cost control, and
maximizing cash flow. The waste stripping bottleneck is now behind us and we
expect stripping ratios to steadily improve towards the end of the calendar
year, enabling improved access to high value, south lobe ore."
In
2019, the Company forecasts revenues between $170 million and $200 million,
consistent with the forecast for 2018.
These projections include "Specials" which are diamonds that
are 10.8 carats and larger but exclude the sale of any truly unique diamonds
such as the 1,109 carat Lesedi la Rona and the 813 carat Constellation.
Specials are
consistently recovered from the Karowe diamond mine and contribute a
significant percentage of the Company's annual revenue. Diamonds recovered are expected to be between
300,000 carats and 330,000 carats and diamonds sold are expected to be between
300,000 carats and 320,000 carats.
Comments
Post a Comment