The Botswana Treasure Chest: Karowe Diamond mine

Lucara Diamond’s flagship mine, Karowe, is an open-pit mine located in Botswana. According to Mining Weekly, De Beers discovered the AK6 kimberlite as early as 1969, but production was not pursued until 2000. After a feasibility study in 2008, De Beers sold its interest in the project to Lucara.

Construction of the mine was concluded in March, 2012, and the first diamonds were discovered a few months afterwards. By August 2012, the mine was at full production. According to Lucara’s website, the mine has an annual production of 400,000 to 420,000 carats.

In 2014, it was reported that Lucara sold rough diamonds it extracted from Karowe to secure revenues exceeding $40 million. In total, the firm sold 1,445 carats of rough stones, with gross revenues for these reaching a price of about $27,755 per-carat.