Commercial diamond mining has started at the Mothae mine, in Lesotho, ASX-listed Lucapa Diamonds reported on Wednesday.

“Lucapa is on track to become one of a few listed diamond companies globally with production from more than one operating mine,” said Lucapa MD Stephen Wetherall.

Ramp-up to the 1.1-million-tonne-a-year nameplate capacity at Mothae has now started, with production from the mine expected to complement that from the Lulo mine, in Angola.

“The high quality nature of this production from Lulo and Mothae will also enable the group to further its value-enhancing downstream strategy through partnerships with global diamantaires, where discussions are well advanced,” Wetherall said.source:miningweekly.com