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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score for Tuesday was a bleak 49-102-159 as the TSX Venture Exchange fell 10 points to 616. Adam Lundin and Dr. William Lamb's Lucara Diamond Corp. (LUC) lost one-half cent to 40.5 cents on 298,000 shares. The company applauded a new annual production record at its Karowe mine in Botswana last year and is eyeing an encouraging 2025. Still, there are worries galore about the following two years, as Lucara plods along with its move underground.

First the good news: Lucara sold nearly 400,000 carats in 2024 for $203.9-million (U.S.), averaging $510 (U.S.) per carat. Some of those gems came from inventory, as the mine produced just under 362,000 carats during the year from 2.85 million tonnes of kimberlite, about 12.7 carats per hundred tonnes. It mined more kimberlite -- three million tonnes in all -- so the rest of the rock has been stockpiled for future processing.

As for the current year, all looks well according to the company's guidance. Lucara expects to recover between 360,000 and 400,000 carats from between 2.6 million and 2.9 million tonnes of kimberlite put through the Karowe plant this year. (At the midpoints, that implies a grade of 13.8 carats per tonne -- up somewhat from the 2024 performance.)

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