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Lucara nets  $54m from two stones from Karowe mine

The luxury brand’s new boutique at the Taj Krishna in Banjara Hills highlights its celebrated fine jewellery and global couture collections.

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Lucara raised $54m from the sale of two exceptional stones – weighing 1,080 carats and 549 carats – both recovered at its Karowe mine, in Botswana, it said this week. The 549 carat Type IIa Sethunya diamond was recovered in February 2020 and was sold to the French luxury maison Louis Vuitton.The 1,080 carat Eva Star, recovered in August 2023, was acquired by an unnamed buyer.

Canadian miner Lucara, 100 per cent owner of the mine, said it was “delighted” to announce details of the sales, now that final payments had been received and the goods had been delivered. It did not specify the price achieved by the diamonds individually, but said they’d sold for a combined sum of $54m and had recognized $44m in revenue net of fees, excluding royalties.

“The company received $20m in previous years and following this sale, a further $24m was due, of which $16m and $8m were received in Q4 2024 and Q1 2025 respectively,” Lucara said in a statement. “The sale of these two extraordinary diamonds further validates our investment in the Karowe underground project,” said William Lamb, president and CEO of Lucara. “The unique characteristics of Karowe’s kimberlite, particularly in the South Lobe, continue to amaze us with its ability to produce diamonds of exceptional size and quality.”

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DiamondBuzz

De Beers Rough Diamond Production Up 17 Year-on-Year

The Sequential Recovery Was Even More Striking, With Output Climbing 88% Quarter-on-Quarter From a Heavily Suppressed Q4 2025 Baseline

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De Beers rough diamond production up 17% year-on-year to 7.1 million carats for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, is the kind of figure that reads well in a headline. But context transforms interpretation. The sequential recovery was even more striking, with output climbing 88% quarter-on-quarter from a heavily suppressed Q4 2025 baseline — a rebound that reflects operational factors rather than any meaningful surge in consumer demand for natural diamonds.

Both primary growth drivers were operationally predetermined rather than market-responsive. A planned ore release from a new area at the Gahcho Kué joint venture mine in Canada, and the continued processing of higher underground ore volumes at the Venetia mine in South Africa, together accounted for the majority of the year-on-year production increase. These are scheduled outcomes of capital programmes that were set in motion years earlier, not reactive decisions to chase rising diamond prices.

This distinction matters enormously for market interpretation. Production growth driven by mine transition schedules and ore release programmes carries a fundamentally different signal than growth driven by producers ramping up output in response to strengthening demand. In the current environment, De Beers is producing more simply because its mines are at a stage in their operational cycles where more ore is available — not because the market is calling for it.

Furthermore, according to De Beers’ official Q1 2026 production report, the critical distinction for Q1 2026 is that volume and value are moving in opposite directions. A 17% increase in production alongside a 19% decline in average realised price tells a more nuanced story than output data alone can convey. Production guidance for 2026 is unchanged at 21–26 million carats (100% basis). De Beers continues to monitor rough diamond trading conditions in order to align output with prevailing demand. Unit cost guidance for 2026 is unchanged at c.$80/carat

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JewelBuzz is Asia’s First Digital Jewellery Media & India’s No.1 B2B Jewellery Magazine, published by AM Media House. Since 2016, we’ve been the trusted source for jewellery news, market trends, trade insights, exhibitions, podcasts, and brand stories, connecting jewellers, retailers, and industry professionals worldwide.

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