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(Bloomberg) Diamond Producer Lucara Diamonds, which recently embarked on the actual production of diamonds at Karowegruvan in Botswana, expects to soon be able to expand its portfolio of diamond assets.
So says William Lamb, president of the First North-listed company, in an interview with news agency Direkt.
"Karowegruvan is beginning to take care of itself. Over the next two to three months, the management may begin to focus on the development of new assets," he says.
Lucara controls in the current situation two diamond projects, in addition Karowe also Motha deposit in Lesotho.However, it is the former which is the focus of interest.
On Monday announced Lucara to the first harvest of diamonds have been implemented. Both the quantity and quality are reported to be excellent and the process of achieving full production rate proceeding according to plan.That means the company must be at an annual rate of 400 000 carats by the end of the second quarter.
The amount produced is in the current situation, however, only 5300 carats, which is why a sale is not planned until early June. When production is well under way, the company expects to hold a dozen diamond auctions a year.
So far the project has followed the agreed plan.
"We have delivered what we promised. Since that day just over two years ago when we said we would produce our first diamond, we only missed by twelve days. In addition, we have kept within the budget of 120 million dollars", says William Lamb.
There is no risk that the company loses focus when more assets are added to the portfolio does not exist, says CEO. The process has in fact already begun.
"We are not waiting for something to happen, we talk to people everywhere. We know exactly what assets that other companies and we know in which stage of development they are. We also have a good idea of ??where our expertise can add most value ' , he says.
The attraction is not to carry out exploration itself, but to develop existing assets that are not yet producing.
Geographically, the South Africa and Botswana in particular, which is the focus area.
"This is where we have our contacts and our expertise, and Botswana is by far the best country in Africa to do business in," said William Lamb, suggesting that the country's stability, infrastructure and education facilitates the company's operations.
Karowes's life expectancy is 15 years, but there are certain conditions for it to be extended. Such decisions, however, is several years away and the main track is the company to grow through acquisitions of new assets, rather than extended, and expensive prospect.
In five years, hoping CEO that the company has four to five attractive assets in various stages of development, from advanced exploration to producing mines.
Lucaras share price went mostly down in 2011, to rise steeply at the beginning of the year and then fall again, something that has not escaped to annoy the company's management.
"It's been frustrating to see the share price. There was a notion that we did not have financing in place and that we would ask shareholders for capital, but it was never", says CEO.
Lucara announced on Monday that it has signed a credit facility of $ 25 million that expires in March 2014 with possibility of extension.
Up to $ 15 million is available immediately and the remaining $ 10 million in assets comes from Karowegruvan.According to William Lamb is the facility, however, most any of a protective order.
"Up to and including diamond sales in June, I think just that we will use a small portion of the 15 million. The extra ten, we will not need at all," he says.
Lucaras other projects, Motha deposit in Lesotho, has a different character than Karowe. Two sales, which raised a total of just over 14 million dollars, was held last year and planned for 2012.
"The problem of discovery is that the diamond content is very low. We find few big rocks, but we also need to process the large amounts of ore," says William Lamb.
Further drilling is ongoing and the company expects to have a documented basis for decisions on how to proceed to the end of the year.
Michael Bernander +46 8 5191 7917
Direkt
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