Botswana has renewed Lucara Diamond Corp’s licence to mine the Karowe resource for 25 more years, allowing the diamond miner to further expand its operations through an underground project.

The licence renewal secures Lucara’s mining rights until 2046. 

Eira Thomas, president and CEO of Lucara, called it “an important milestone” for the Karowe underground expansion project. “This paves the way for the completion of a supplemental debt financing and full project sanction later this year,” he continued.

The Karowe underground expansion project runs under a revised US$22 million budget in response to Covid-19. 

“The company continues to explore debt financing options for those amounts that are expected to exceed its cash flow from operations during the construction period,” noted Lucara. “The company anticipates financing to be in place by the second half of this year. The underground expansion programme has an estimated capital cost of US$514 million and a five-year period of development, with the first ore anticipated from underground in 2026.”