The Lucapa Diamond Co Ltd (ASX: LOM) share price has had a shiny week, up nearly 3% today and more than 25% in the past 5 days of trading.
Last week the company discovered the first diamond of over 100 carats at its Lulo alluvial mine in Angola.
Today, Lucapa announced its first 2021 sale of rough diamonds. Lucapa and its partner, the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, sold 4.676 carats of rough diamonds for a total of US$5.6 million.
At the time of writing, the Lucapa share price is up 2.78% for the day, trading hands at 7.4 cents per share.
How did the Lucapa share price fare in 2020?
The Lucapa share price had a disappointing 12-month period, diving over 42%. It took a serious tumble from March 2020 to April 2020 falling from .15 cents at the start of March to closing at 0.4 cents by the end of April. That's a roughly 73% crash.
Copping its share of the worldwide business impacts brought on by coronavirus, Lucapa announced on 1 April that a National State of Emergency was declared in the Republic of Angola. The share price dip that ensued didn't lift back up until July and has continued to hike a bumpy trail since then.
Acknowledging this blow to the business, Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall commented today:
Following a tough 2020, where both of our mines were impacted by the pandemic, our valued teams have shown their resilience and operations have bounced back strongly. The good recoveries at both mines and growing demand leading to strengthening diamond prices has seen a strong start to 2021.
A roaring one-month come back
Although the past year was a tough time for the Lucapa share price, Lucapa shares have now jumped over 23% in the past month.
After announcing the unearthing of the 113-carat white diamond recovered at Lulo last week, the share price popped around 12% in 24-hours and has continued to creep up since.
What's ahead for Lucapa Diamond in 2021?
Lucapa has secured funding to commission an approximately 45% expansion in the processing capacity of the company's Mothae kimberlite mine. The expansion is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of 2021.
In the November 2020 announcement, Lucapa stated that it expects the expansion to "materially increase production, revenues and due to economies of scale, improve unit operation costs and deliver improvements to earnings."
The Lucapa share price is currently up 2.78% in morning trade.
