Lucara in the Sky with Diamonds: 239 Carat Diamond’s Super Sale

To say they’re off to a good start would be an understatement. On May 22, Lucara Diamond Corp. announced the results of their first large and exceptional diamond tender earlier this month, and even the world’s poshest jaws dropped. Consisting of 15 single stone lots, Lucara reported revenues of $24.85 million, or an astounding $30,468 per carat. In other words, more than the combined rest of us will ever see in a lifetime. The highest value diamond, at a whopping 239 carats, sold for $5.75 million, with four other diamond sales for just under half that.

The success of the sale confirmed Karowe Mine as a remarkable deposit of rare and large stones. The company had previously made news in January of this year for the recovery of several sought-after blue diamonds, the most significant of which weighed in at 9.46 carats, and sold for $4.515 million. Plans are now reportedly underway to modify and increase Karowe’s plant treatment process in order to make way for more giant gems.

Considering production at the Botswana mine is still under a year old, and such immediate and extraordinary success is unprecedented in the diamond mining industry, Lucara execs have publicly expressed their delight. That is, when they’re not gleefully rolling around in their piles of money.