Lucara Diamond Corp, which recently officially launched its mine in Botswana says it has recovered a 9.46 carat rare Type II blue diamond from its wholly owned Karowe Mine in Botswana.

The diamond, the first of its kind to be identified at Karowe, will be sold on tender at the upcoming sale of Karowe diamonds which will take place on November 26, 2012. At this sale, more than 57,000 carats of diamonds will be sold on tender, the fourth sale of Karowe diamonds this year.

William Lamb, Lucara’s President and CEO says the recovery of such a rare stone is of great importance to the Karowe asset.

“We had previously identified a population of Type II diamonds at Karowe and the recovery of this rare blue diamond confirms the quality distribution of the diamonds being mined at Karowe,” he says.

Lucara is a well positioned emerging new diamond producer. The Company has an experienced board and management team with extensive diamond development and operations expertise.

The company’s two key assets are the Karowe Mine in Botswana and the Mothae Project in Lesotho. The 100 percent owned Karowe Mine is in the production. The 75 percent owned Mothae Project is currently in the trial mining stage.

Karowe is expected to produce 270,000 carats in 2012 and ~400,000 thereafter and diamonds will be sold on the open tender unlike De Beers’ system of controlled prices through Diamond Trading Company.