Lukas Lundin's Lucara Diamond (LUC:TSX) announced its first exceptional stone tender of 2014 after the market closed yesterday and it shattered expectations. The first exceptional stone tender was comprised of 20 diamonds totalling 1,191 carats which were sold for $50.5 million ($42,347/carat). Last year's average per carat value of their exceptional stone tenders was roughly half of this 2014 one(~$25,000/carat).
The highest priced stone was a 167.08 carat stone which sold for $12.7 million or $75,821/carat. The highest priced stone sold last year was $6.4 million.
Lucara also held two regular stone tenders in Q1/2014 which brought in a combined gross revenue of $33.6 million. This brings their total year-to-date revenues from the Karowe mine in Botswana to $84.06 million. They are guiding $150-$160 million in annual revenue this year and they still have at least one more exceptional stone tender and six more regular stone tenders.
William Lamb, President and CEO, commented, "Strong regular tenders combined with the outstanding results from the exceptional stone tender continue to demonstrate the quality of the Karowe Mine and firmly establishes Karowe as one of the world's leading diamond producers by value, further reinforcing the updated resource statement issued in December 2013.
Recall, the board of directors approved the first dividend policy of any Lundin Group company, for the payment of semi-annual and occasional special dividends. The first semi-annual dividend has been set at $0.02 per share (total cash outlay of ~$7.5 million) in May. This equates to an annualized dividend yield of 2.4%.
With these large stones coming out of Karowe as well as their future ability to recover them better as the plant is upgrade to accommodate the rare size, special dividends could be awarded.
The shares continue to hit all-time highs:
Read: Lucara's Exceptional Stone Tender Generates $50.5 Million; Year-To-Date Revenues Exceed $84 Million