KEY POINTS
- Lucara’s Q2 revenue fell 6% to $41 million, mainly due to lower carat sales and weaker prices for smaller diamonds.
- Karowe recovered 90,082 carats, including 176 special diamonds and another 1,303-carat stone in July.
- The $779.2 million underground project is progressing, despite a six-week construction delay, with full production still targeted for the first half of 2028.
Diamond miner Lucara Diamond Corp reported a decline in second-quarter revenue as lower carat sales and weaker prices for smaller diamonds weighed on earnings.
At the same time, the company continued to make progress on its major underground expansion at the Karowe mine in Botswana, despite some construction delays.
Lucara’s revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2026, fell by 6% year-on-year to $41 million.
The company attributed the decline mainly to lower diamond sales through its tenders and a weaker average price for diamonds weighing less than 10.8 carats.
The quarter included the sale of the exceptional 2,488-carat Motswedi diamond, while the same period last year benefited from the sale of the 1,094-carat Seriti diamond.
Despite the decline in revenue, Lucara maintained its full-year revenue guidance of between $100 million and $130 million, signalling that it expects stronger performance during the remainder of the year.
Mining Costs Decline
Lucara also reported an improvement in operating costs. The cost of processing ore dropped by 11% to $23.76 per tonne, significantly below the company’s full-year guidance range of $27.50 to $31 per tonne.
The lower cost was mainly linked to higher volumes of ore processed during the quarter. However, the benefit was partly reduced by increased electricity and fuel costs.
The company processed more material while continuing to focus on maintaining safe and disciplined operations at the Karowe mine.
During the quarter, Karowe produced a total of 90,082 carats.
Of this amount, 83,109 carats came from direct ore feed from the open pit and run-of-mine stockpiles. The recovered grade was 10.9 carats per hundred tonnes.
A further 6,973 carats were recovered from the processing of historical recovery tailings.
The mine also recovered 176 special diamonds, defined as stones weighing more than 10.8 carats.
The continued recovery of large and valuable diamonds remains central to Lucara’s strategy, as Karowe is known for producing some of the world’s largest and highest-value diamonds.
