Companies listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) Limited continue to make grand recoveries after the Covid-19 scare.
Lucara Diamond Corporation through their financial report for the year ended December 31, 2021 published on BSE website last week indicates that the diamond mining giant raked in $230.1 million as total revenues.
For the previous year, Lucara recorded $125.3 million, indicating an 84% and 80% increase over the previous year.
This massive turnover margin reflected the impact of strong demand for both rough and polished diamonds.
The report also states that the company’s net income increased to $23.8 million ($0.06 earnings per share) as compared to net loss of $26.3 million ($0.07 earnings per share) in 2020.
Karowe Mine, a subsidiary of Lucara, secured a $220 million senior secured project debt financing for the Karowe underground expansion project which is forecast to contribute approximately $4 billion in additional revenues, using conservative diamond prices.
The project has a $534 million capital cost and a five year construction period.
Briefing the media on Friday, Lucara Diamond Botswana Managing Director Naseem Lahri said, “The company has done extremely well, the market is doing well because of big stones being in demand. This is the first time we had big stones but good quality stones came out last year,” Lahri said.
In 2021, Lucara announced that they have discovered numerous gem quality diamonds weighing over 100 carats.
The largest stone recovered was a 62.7 carat high quality, fancy pink leather gem diamond.
Other pink gems of similar quality were also discovered during the same production period.
Among some of the company’s highlights include 2.8 million tonnes of ore processed representing a new annual record since the start of production at the Karowe Mine.
Lahri further said the current financial result does not include the sales of Sethunya which is yet to be sold.
“As a result of strong forecast revenues for 2021 and amidst strengthening prices for large, high value diamonds, a strategic decision was taken late in 2021 to defer the sale of the Sethunya, one of the finest, gem quality, exceptional diamonds produced from the Karowe Mine. We are still to find a way to sell it,” she said.
