Lucara closes $60 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENT
and announces appointment of james campbell as vp new business
February 14, 2011 (LUC ? TSXV) ? Lucara Diamond Corp. (?Lucara? or
the ?Company?) announces that the $60 million financing announced
on January 19, 2011 has closed. The Company sold on a non-brokered,
private placement basis, an aggregate of 60 million common shares of Lucara at
a price of $1.00 per share. The common shares issued pursuant to the private
placement will be subject to a 4 month hold period expiring on June 12,
2011. A finder's fee of 4% in cash was payable on a portion of the gross
proceeds of the private placement. Net proceeds of the private placement will
be used towards the development of Lucara?s AK6 Diamond mine in Botswana and its
Mothae Diamond mine in Lesotho as well as for general working capital purposes.
In addition, the Company is pleased to announce the
appointment of Mr. James Campbell as Vice President New Business following the
successful acquisition of African Diamonds plc ('AFD') by Lucara. Mr. Campbell
had worked as Managing Director of AFD for four years and was instrumental in
paving the way for the award of a Mining License for the AK6 project.
Prior to joining AFD, Mr. Campbell was with De Beers for over twenty years,
culminating in being General Manager responsible for resource delivery in the
Global Mining and Exploration group. Mr. Campbell holds a degree in Mining
& Exploration Geology from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College,
London University) and an MBA with distinction from Durham University. Mr.
Campbell is a Fellow of the Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Materials,
Chartered Engineer (UK), Chartered Scientist (UK), a Professional Natural
Scientist (RSA) and a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa.
Lucara is a well positioned
emerging new Diamond producer. The Company has an experienced board and
management team with years of Diamond development expertise.. The
Company?s two key assets are the AK6 Diamond mine in Botswana and the Mothae
Diamond mine in Lesotho. The 100% owned AK6 project is in the
construction stage with mine commissioning scheduled to commence in the fourth
quarter of 2011. The 75% owned Mothae mine is currently in the trial
mining stage. Both Mothae and AK6 are world class assets with tonnage and
throughput upside; Diamond values from both could significantly increase with
the continued recovery of Type IIA and large stones.
On Behalf of the Board,
William Lamb
President and CEO
Forward Looking Statements:
This document contains statements about expected or anticipated future events
and financial results of Lucara that are forward-looking in nature and are
based on Lucara's current expectations, estimates and projections. This
forward-looking information is subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such
as legal and political risk, civil unrest, general economic, market and
business conditions, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new
legislation, competitive and general economic factors and conditions, the
uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, the
occurrence of unexpected events and management's capacity to execute and
implement its future plans. The actual results, activities, performance or
achievements of Lucara may differ materially from those projected by
management. A discussion of factors that may affect Lucara's actual results,
performance, achievements or financial position is contained in the filings by
Lucara with the Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities on the
system for electronic document analysis and retrieval ("SEDAR") at
www.sedar.com.
For further information, please contact:
Sophia Shane, Corporate Development (604) 689-7842
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.