Lucara Diamond Corp. has announced first quarter revenues of $26.1 million ($405 per carat) – almost half the revenues in the corresponding period of 2016 ($50.6 million and $649 per carat).
The decrease in revenues was due to “a lower volume of carats being sold and a decrease in the carat weight of specials sold”, according to the company. Lucara said that a larger volume of +10.8-carat specials were sold in Q1 2016 (6,936 carats) compared to Q1 2017 (2,379 carats).
Despite the lowered revenue, the company maintains its 2017 revenue forecast of $200-$220 million, “with 80% of its revenue forecast from the Company’s exceptional stone tenders and the sale of specials (>10.8 carats) in its regular tenders”. According to President and CEO William Lamb, “Q1 sales were in line with expectations”.
