Angola | Australian company extracts 1,317 diamonds in concession

The exploitation of alluvial diamonds in Lulo, in the Angolan province of Lunda Norte, allowed the mining of 1317 diamonds since January, the Australian company Lucapa Diamond said in a statement last week.
The diamonds extracted as a result of processing 12,912 cubic meters of rock, had a total mass of 1,335 carats, with an average of 1.01 carats, with the largest standing at 26.7 carats.
Block 29 is the first area of ​​alluvial diamonds mined in Lulo since the Australian diamond company and its partners last November signed a 35-year concession contract.
The company, whose Angolan partners in this project are state company Endiama and private group Rosas & Pétalas, has given assurances that with these results it will achieve positive cash flow from mining in Lulo next June.
During the prospecting phase, which lasted for six years, the company extracted 876.5 carats in the Lulo area, including a stone of 131.4 carats, the largest of all, which yielded USD6 million.
The Lulo concession lies 150 kilometers from the Catoca diamond mine, which is the biggest in Angola and the fourth-­largest of its kind in the world, and both are located in the same geological area.  MDT/Macauhub