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- Operations at Lucapa Diamond Company’s (LOM) Mothae diamond mine will be impacted by the recent nation-wide lockdown in South Africa
- As the country’s confirmed COVID-19 cases pass 550, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has put a 21-day lockdown in place
- Lucapa’s Mothae diamond mine in Lesotho will be impacted, particularly on the flow of essential mining supplies and services coming from South Africa
- After discussions with its partner, the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, a decision has been made to suspend mining operations at Mothae
- However, mining and processing operations can be quickly restarted should a decision to reopen the mine be taken in the future
- Lucapa has dropped 22.4 per cent and shares are trading for 6.6 cents each
Operations at Lucapa Diamond Company’s (LOM) Mothae diamond mine will be impacted by the recent nation-wide lockdown in South Africa.
On March 24, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced drastic new measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19.
As confirmed cases passed 550, a 21-day lockdown has been put in place from midnight March 26 until midnight April 16.
While residents will still be able to buy food and seek medical care, non-essential businesses and companies such as Lucapa will be impacted.
Even though it is not located in South Africa, Lucapa’s Mothae kimberlite diamond mine in Lesotho will be impacted, particularly on the flow of essential mining supplies and services across the border from South Africa.
After discussions with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Lucapa’s partner, a decision was reached to suspend mining operations at the Mothae kimberlite mine.
However, if a decision to reopen the mine is reached, mining and processing operations can be quickly restarted.
Lucapa is currently in discussions with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa for the restructure of its IDC debt facility.
In its quarterly report from January 2020, Lucapa is continuing to review proposals which have the potential to reduce the costs of the existing debt facilities.
These discussions outline the restructure plan for the Mothae mine.
Mothae is located in Lesotho’s diamond-rich Maluti Mountains, within five kilometres of the world’s highest US$ per carat kimberlite diamond mine, Letseng.
Results have confirmed that like its other mine, Lulo, Mothae is also a source of large and premium-value diamonds.
Mothae has produced three diamonds with over 100 carats, one of them being 220 carats.
Lucapa has dropped 22.4 per cent and shares are trading for 6.6 cents apiece at 1:13 pm AEDT.
