Lucara Diamond signs Louis Vuitton agreement for sale of 549-carat diamond

Lucara Diamond Corp. [LUC-TSX, BSE, NASDAQ Stockholm] has entered into an agreement with Louis Vuitton, the famous luxury goods House and HB Antwerp, a European diamond manufacturing and technology company, for the purpose of collaborating on the planning, cutting and polishing of the exceptional, 549-carat white gem diamond referred to as “Sethunya” meaning “Flower” in Setswana, one of the official languages of South Africa.

Sethunya was recovered unbroken from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe of Lucara’s 100%-owned Karowe Mine in February 2020. This agreement builds on the collaboration, announced in January, with Louis Vuitton and HB on the historic 1,758- carat Sewelô, Botswana’s largest diamond, recovered from Karowe last year.

Under the arrangement between Lucara, Louis Vuitton, and HB, the parties will collaborate and plan the creation of the highest value polished diamonds from the 549-carat rough, which will be made available to Louis Vuitton exclusively. Lucara will be paid a purchase price based on the estimated polished outcome, determined by HB’s state of the art scanning and planning technologies, with a true up paid on the actual achieved polished sales thereafter, less a fee and the cost of manufacturing. Lucara will receive the purchase price based on the polished outcome no later than Q4 2021.

In line with their long tradition of personalisation, Louis Vuitton envisages crafting beautiful, bespoke high value polished stones of variable size and shape fashioned from this rare specimen to the client’s wishes: the ultimate personalised High Jewellery experience and the opportunity to create a truly unique gem, a storied family heirloom. In this way, the client will be involved in the creative process of plotting, cutting, polishing, and becoming part of the story that the stone will carry with it into history.

Eira Thomas, CEO, commented: “We are extremely pleased to be building on the ground breaking partnership established for the manufacturing of the Sewelô earlier this year, bringing together the manufacturing and supply chain expertise of HB Antwerp in collaboration with the world’s leading luxury brand, Louis Vuitton, to transform Sethunya, an exceptionally pure, high colour 549-carat rough diamond from Karowe, into an extraordinary, bespoke, polished diamond collection, catering exclusively to the desires of Louis Vuitton’s global customer base.”