BOTSWANA – Botswana-focused Lucara Diamond Corp has announced US$30.9 million in financing to support the development and ongoing operation of its Karowe mine.
The Vancouver-headquartered company will raise US$18 million on a bought-deal basis at US$0.61 a share and US$13 million in a concurrent private placement to Nemesia and other investors.
BMO Capital Markets is the lead underwriter for the public offering with the underwriters having an option to purchase up to an additional 15% of the public offering to cover over-allotments if any.
The offering will close on July 15,2021 and the private placement will be on the same terms as the public offering and will also close on July 15.
Karowe delivered a 1,174 ct diamond this week – the third diamond weighing more than 1,000 ct to be recovered since 2015.
The diamond, measuring 77x55x33 mm, is described as a clivage gem of variable quality with significant domains of high-quality white gem material, and was recovered from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe.
Eira Thomas, CEO commented: “Lucara is delighted to be reporting another historic diamond recovery and its 3rd diamond over 1,000 carats, a world record for Karowe. Although complex, these diamond recoveries do contain large domains of top colour white gem that will be transformed through our partnership with HB Antwerp into valuable collections of top colour polished diamonds, very much in high demand in the market today. Besides the 1,174-carat stone, several other high quality white gems were recovered up to 148 carats in size, and year to date Karowe has produced 17 diamonds greater than 100 carats, including 5 diamonds greater than 300 carats.”
The net proceeds of the Public Offering and Private Placement will be used for working capital to support the development and ongoing operation of the Karowe diamond mine.
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