Lucapa Diamond Company Limited announced operating results for the first quarter ended March 2015. The company announced that commercial alluvial mining operations at the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola are on track to become cash flow positive by the end of the current June 2015 quarter after the company exceeded its first quarter mining and processing targets. Lucapa and its partners commenced alluvial diamond mining operations at Lulo in January 2015 after securing a 35 year mining license in November 2014. In the three months to the end of March 2015, the mining team exceeded its overburden stripping targets to expose 12,912 bulk cubic meters (bcm) of diamond bearing gravels which was transported and processed through the 150 tonne per hour diamond treatment plant. This exceeded the March 2015 quarter processing target of 12,000 bcm, despite mining operations being restricted to river terraces and other areas close to the diamond treatment plant due to the Angolan wet season. This produced a total of 1,317 diamonds weighing 1,335 carats for an average stone size of 1.01 carats per stone. Consistent with previous bulk sampling recoveries, the diamonds recovered during the quarter included large specials (>10.8 carat) including individual stones weighing 26.7 carats, 23.45 carats, 20.35 carats, 19.85 carats, 15.1 carats, 12.7 carats, 11.95 carats and 11.55 carats. As with previous recoveries, several of these special stones were confirmed as rare Type IIa gems. The recovered diamond grade of 10.34 carats per 100 cubic meters (cphm3) achieved during the March 2015 quarter is consistent with the average bulk sampling results from the areas mined.

Factoring in the mining of these high grade areas, the company and its partners are targeting an overall average grade of 15 cphm3 for the Phase 1 alluvial diamond mining plan (January 2015 to March 2016). In line with the guidance provided, the company remains on track to achieve its Phase 1 mining throughput target of 10,000 to 14,000 bcm/month by June 2015. The Phase 2 mining plan targets throughput of 40,000 bcm/month at a targeted average diamond grade of 10 cphm3. This step-up in scale will be achieved via additional earthmoving fleet and the in-field screening plants to wash and screen alluvial gravels at source to create a concentrated feed for trucking to the diamond treatment plant. Positive first quarter results keep Lucapa on track to become operating cash flow positive by the end of the June 2015 quarter.