{"id":1148051,"date":"2019-11-05T04:55:57","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T10:55:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1006033"},"modified":"2019-11-05T04:55:57","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T10:55:57","slug":"lucara-going-ahead-with-514m-expansion-of-karowe-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1148051","title":{"rendered":"Lucara going ahead with $514m expansion of Karowe mine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada\u2019s&nbsp;Lucara&nbsp;Diamond (TSX:LUC)&nbsp;has <a href=\"https:\/\/mma.prnewswire.com\/media\/1023161\/lucara_1104_reserves.pdf?p=original\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">given the green light to a planned underground expansion<\/a> of its Karowe mine in Botswana, which is expected to extend the operation\u2019s life for 20 years until 2040.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Vancouver-based miner&nbsp;said the project, which<br \/>\npre-production costs have been pegged at $514 million, will be largely financed<br \/>\nfrom cash resources with external funding described by Lucara\u2019s chief financial<br \/>\nofficer, Zara Boldt, as \u201cmodest\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>While the company investment is expected to be paid back in under three years, it has moved to preserving cash by suspending dividends for future quarters.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>While the needed investment is expected to be paid back in under three years, Lucara has suspended dividends.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Moving Karowe underground, however, will allow Lucara to<br \/>\nexploit the highest value part of the orebody first and generate over $5.25<br \/>\nbillion in gross revenue, president and chief executive officer, Eira Thomas,<br \/>\nnoted.<\/p>\n<p>She also said that margins remained healthy as Lucara\u2019s<br \/>\nconservative diamond pricing models reflected the current \u201cdifficult\u201d market<br \/>\nenvironment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLucara&#8217;s short-term view is that the market is now<br \/>\nstabilizing,&#8221; said Thomas. &#8220;Longer term, the fundamentals are<br \/>\nexpected to strengthen in line with supply shortfalls from mature, depleting<br \/>\nmines in Australia and Canada. It is important to note that a return to diamond<br \/>\nprices observed in 2015 would nearly double the net present value (5%) of this<br \/>\nproject to $1.4 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Construction is expected to start by mid-2020 with the first<br \/>\ndiamond-bearing underground ore due for milling in 2023.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Karowe is one of the world&#8217;s most prolific sources of large, high value<br \/>\ntype IIA diamonds. Since beginning commercial operations in 2012, it has<br \/>\nproduced 2.5 million carats, becoming the only mine in recorded history to have<br \/>\nproduced two 1,000+ carat diamonds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the needed investment is expected to be paid back in under three years, Lucara has suspended dividends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2849,949,369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148051"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1148051"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1148146,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1148051\/revisions\/1148146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1148051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1148051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1148051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}