Lucara Reports Year‑End 2025 Results and Progress on Underground Project

Lucara Diamond Corp. told investors the Karowe Underground Project now carries a revised cost at completion of $779.2 million, an increase of 14% from the July 2023 estimate, even as the company secured C$165.0 million in equity on January 29, 2026. The financing came via a non-brokered private placement that issued 1,031,250,000 common shares at C$0.16 per share, part of a funding push that accompanied an Updated Feasibility Study filed January 30, 2026.

The company said that as at December 31, 2025, $469.4 million had already been incurred on the UGP and that $82.3 million of project costs were committed but not yet spent. Lucara noted the Updated Feasibility Study was prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 and incorporated construction progress, revisions to exchange rates, inclusion of Legacy stone4 values, costs incurred to date, and updates to hydrogeological and geomechanical models, as well as mine design, method and scheduling. The company described reaching the bottom of the production shaft in July 2025 as “a key development towards the completion of the UGP.”

Operationally, Lucara reported 353,302 carats sold for fiscal 2025 and is planning an interim processing program. The company said that “From H1 2026 to H1 2028, the Company will process a combination of ore from open pit operations and stockpiled materials.” That bridge is central to revenue in the transition years and follows mixed quarterly performance: Q3 2025 recognized $38.0 million of HB revenue, which accounted for 74% of total revenue in that quarter, and the three months ended September 30, 2025 saw 101,422 carats sold generating $51.2 million. Earlier in 2025, Q1 revenue fell to $30.3 million on sales of 72,871 carats amid unusually high rainfall that disrupted open pit mining at Karowe.

Financing relief has been supplemented by capital support from Lucara’s largest shareholder, Nemesia S.à.r.l., which provided a funding support facility from which Lucara drew $10.0 million and issued an unsecured debenture that matures on June 30, 2031. Creamer Media highlighted the tightness of that bridge, noting, “As we navigate the transition from openpit to underground operations, shareholders are reminded that 2026 and 2027 will present significant challenges, with production relying primarily on lower‑value stockpile material,” he said, and that Lucara was “exploring options to raise additional financing but warned that future efforts may not succeed or may fall short of the required amounts.”

Even amid the capital squeeze and schedule reset, Karowe continued to produce headline stones: in August 2025 Lucara recorded recovery of “a 1,0151 carat non‑gem diamond” and a 37.42 carat near‑gem pink Type IIa diamond, calling the first stone “the ninth diamond over 1,000 carats from Karowe and the third recovered in 2025.” With production from the underground now targeted for H1 2028, Lucara’s valuation over the next two years will hinge on execution of the Updated Feasibility Study, the company’s ability to fund the remaining phases of construction and the market realization of its large-stone inventory.