Big stones from Lucara, Diamcor and Rockwell

September was a big month for big stones from Lucara Diamond (TSX: LUC), Diamcor Mining (TSXV: DMI) and Rockwell Diamonds’ (TSX: RDI) respective operations in Africa.

In September, Lucara reported its Karowe mine in Botswana had produced 47 diamonds larger than 50 carats this year, including a whopping 257-carat clear diamond.

To that point, the company had completed six tenders for the year, with all lots sold.

“With the challenges currently facing the rough diamond market, the demand for the high-quality goods produced by Karowe has remained consistently high,” said Lucara president and CEO William Lamb in a release.

Karowe, located in the Orapa-Letlhakane kimberlite field, reached commercial production in July 2012.

A tender of 16 exceptional stones from the operation weighing a total of 1,028 carats was held in early September, bringing in US$24.7 million, or US$24,026 per carat.

That same month, Diamcor Mining reported the recovery of its first gem-quality “special” stone (an exceptional diamond over 10.8 carats) from its Krone-Endora operation in South Africa. The 91.65-carat octahedron was sold for US$817,920 in October. The company’s latest diamond sale brought in a total of US$1.2 million from 2,654.63 carats (including the special stone), for an average of US$431.55 per carat.

Diamcor is processing material at Krone-Endora as part of testing and commissioning exercises at the alluvial operation. No reserves have been defined at Krone-Endora.

The project was connected to the electricity grid with an 8.4-km power line in August. A crushing circuit installed this summer will give Diamcor the ability to process larger size fractions of material and potentially recover larger diamonds.

Finally, Rockwell Diamonds announced in September that its Middle Orange River (MOR) projects in South Africa returned four diamonds weighing over 100 carats each. A 126-carat stone and a 169-carat diamond were recovered from a new mining area at the junior’s Saxendrift Hill complex, while a 116-carat and a 188-carat diamond were recovered from gravels at the Saxendrift extension pit.

“Recovery of four rough diamonds exceeding 100 carats within a three-week period is a milestone in our objective to grow production in the MOR region, where we have a significant inventory of high-value in situ diamonds,” said Rockwell president and CEO James Campbell in a release. “It also attests to the quality of our recovery processes where the implementation of fit-for-purpose technology has improved our ability to recover large stones. This includes the Bulk X-ray technology which we pioneered in the full production environment at SHC, as well as our strong skills at Saxendrift where efficiency initiatives in the pan plant are paying off.”

At presstime, Lucara traded at $1.24 in a 52-week range of 50¢-$1.25, with 376.4 million shares outstanding.

Diamcor traded at $1.52 in a 52-week range of $1.06-1.70 with 35.2 million shares outstanding.

And Rockwell traded at 34¢ in a 52-week range of 11¢-56¢ with 48.9 million shares outstanding.