Lucara Diamond Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
May 8, 2026

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Lucara recapitalized its balance sheet, raising $120 million of equity and issuing a $350 million bond at 12.5% (using $220M to repay prior lenders), which management says, together with operating cash, is sufficient to complete the underground project with roughly $300 million of capital remaining and optional access to an extra $50M (bond) plus a $50M revolver.
  • Positive Sentiment: The underground project has advanced materially—> $472M spent of the updated $779M Feasibility estimate, >75% of capital committed, shaft equipping and 127 bunton sets installed, and more than 1.2 km of lateral development completed, positioning the project to accelerate once contractors and skips are fully mobilized.
  • Negative Sentiment: Q1 revenue was weaker at about $21.8 million, primarily because the company processed lower-value stockpile material rather than fresh open-pit ore, though Lucara returned to pit mining in March and is maintaining full-year guidance while expecting revenue and EBITDA to improve later in 2026.
  • Positive Sentiment: Operationally Lucara continues to recover high-value diamonds—100 "specials" including six >100 carats (one 300-carat) and a notable 37-carat blue stone from stockpile now in Antwerp for grading, with monetization expected to bolster future revenue and EBITDA.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Lucara Diamond Q1 2026
00:00 / 00:00

There are 3 speakers on the call.

Speaker 1

Welcome to the Lucara Diamond Corp Q1 2026 results webinar. As a reminder, all participants are in listen-only mode, and the meeting is being recorded. After the presentation, there'll be an opportunity to ask questions. If you wish to ask a question, please click the Q&A icon on the left-hand side of the screen. You'll see the option to raise your hand to join the queue and ask your question verbally, or write a question to submit your question in writing. When you're introduced, you will see a prompt on screen that you should click Continue, and that will make your line live in the call. Anyone who has dialed in on the conference call may press star then one on your telephone keypad to join the question queue.

Speaker 1

I would now like to turn the meeting over to William Lamb, President and CEO of Lucara Diamond Corp. Please go ahead.

Speaker 2

Thank you very much. Thank you everybody for dialing in to Lucara's Q1 2026 results call. On the call with me, I have Glenn Kondo, our CFO, and Hannah Ranish, who looks after and is the Manager, Investor Relations and Communications. As we go through this presentation, there will be customary forward-looking statements. If you haven't read this, please take a look at it on our website. Jumping into it. In terms of Q1 2026, it was, for us, a transitional quarter, specifically from a financial perspective. Really strengthening our capital structure and our liquidity. We'll go through that a little bit later in detail. Then we'll take that through. On the underground project, which is the future, we have advanced significantly there.

Speaker 2

We've now spent more than $472 million of the expected $779. That $779 comes from an updated feasibility study, 43-101 document, which we put out during the quarter. As we go through the UGP, one of the key aspects which we continue to focus on is safety. With more than 2,249 days without a lost time injury, that is in the excess of six years, we can see the dividends starting to be paid in terms of the safe operations at the UGP. One of the things that makes Lucara special is obviously the ongoing recovery of the large and high-value stones.

Speaker 2

Through the quarter, 100 specials, of which 6 of them were larger than 100 carats. That included a 300 carats stone. That is the same as what we had in terms of 100 carat stones recovered for Q1 2025. And we'll touch on one of the very, very nice stones, not plus 300 carats, a little bit later in the presentation. I think from a financial perspective, $21.8 million revenue, lower than what we had in Q1 2025. That's obviously a function of some of the changes which, and more shifting around in terms of where we're mining. We still expect the tons processed, mined and processed through the year to be consistent with what we have in the mine plan.

Operator

As William mentioned, a very good first quarter in terms of financing. We did recapitalize our balance sheet. We raised $120 million of equity. This slide covers the bond financing of $350 million, with a coupon rate of 12.5%. We used $220 million of that to repay our previous lender group. That's been done. Based on the remaining cash flows of the bond and the equity and operating cash flows, that is sufficient for us to complete the mine, the underground project with roughly $300 million left of capital to spend.

Operator

One interesting part of the bond is it does allow us to increase our liquidity if needed, so we can tap for an additional $50 million of bond plus a revolving credit facility of $50 million. In terms of that, it gives us full, we believe, strong financing for the project.

Speaker 2

Thank you. In terms of an operations update, this is specific to the ongoing operations mining in the open pit and processing. I think before I start here, what we have come to realize is that when we talk about processing of stockpile material, there does seem to be a fairly wide belief that it is reprocessing of material. I just wanted to make it clear that when we talk about processing of stockpile material between now and the start of the underground, this is material which was mined during a period from 2013 through to last year, which has been put on stockpile. It has not yet been processed. This is run of mine material, which we are seeing go through the mill.

Speaker 2

When we talk about 6 stones over 100 carats recovered from the processing of stockpile, it is fresh mined material, but not as in fresh mined. It was mined, but it's, hasn't yet been processed. We did have 1 or 2 challenges with weather through the first quarter. It did, however, not change the throughput through the mill. We did continue processing all the way through every single day. There was an excess amount of rain, and you can imagine how much rain is actually collected as we get down to the bottom of the open pit. We're in a very confined space. We do have this collection funnel of 800 by 900 meters on surface.

Speaker 2

We do have sufficient pumping capacity within the pit. When we would have expected the rain to come to an end seasonally, at the back end of January into February, we would pump the pit empty. The rains continued, so we kept moving the goalpost as to when we were gonna get back into the pit. We did get back into the pit in March, and we have started to see material flow from the pit back into the process plant now.

Speaker 2

That material we expect to continue to process, the full volume of the 2026 expected to the end of the life of the open pit, before the end of the year. As we will see, Glenn will touch on this in the next slide. We did see softer revenues because of the processing of the stockpile material. We are looking at that as just more of a shift, in terms of what we process in each of the quarters this year.

Operator

As William Lamb mentioned, revenue was $20 million compared to $30 million the previous year. You can see the lower tonnages in terms of ore mined. We did process stockpile during the Q1 phase. It's also important to note that stockpiles are inherently variable in value, and what we saw through the Q1 period was probably the lower end of our valuations. What was interesting and what was excellent news for us is the recovery of the 37 carat blue stone, and that was from stockpile. In terms of our feasibility study, we had not forecasted to recover diamonds such as that, of that quality and color. As William Lamb said, we're back into the open pit.

Operator

Our forecast for this year is to have 75,000 tons coming from EM/PK(S), our high quality material, and then M/PK(S) of 500,000 tons with other material following, roughly between 200,000-300,000 tons of material. A good finish to the year, going back into the open pit, and we expect revenue and EBITDA to increase. Just one point on the blue stone as well. That has not featured in our revenue. It will be in our revenue and EBITDA as we monetize the stone. That's something for us to look forward to in terms of future cash flows. In terms of guidance, we're very much maintaining at the $100 million-$300 million level. If I turn to operating costs, if you see there, it's $21 million versus $14 million last year.

Operator

We did have a couple one-off costs that we had planned. Demobilization of some of the equipment from the open pit as we start to wind down was planned in the feasibility study in May. We've just advanced that. $2 million came through in Q1. In terms of accounting, one thing we do have is previously stockpiled material. We did have capitalized costs to that. That's added $4.4 million in terms of the operating expenses coming through. If you exclude those costs, we're really in line with the $14 million last year, and that's reflected in the slightly marginal higher dollar per ton ore processed. Again, in terms of guidance, we're very much expecting to be within that.

Operator

I guess looking forward for us, the open pit commenced and expecting to improve revenue and inventory. As William said, it's just a shift in time between stockpile and going back to fresh ore. All revenue and cost guidance we're maintaining. All production metrics are within guidance and we're starting to look at opportunities to maximize the sale of blue stones. That's going to be coming years going forward.

Speaker 2

When we specifically Glenn Kondo has already touched on the blue stone, that is a magnificent stone. It's, we have historically recovered a couple of blue stones. There was a 9.46 carat blue stone that came from the north lobe back in 2012. We do see them on a regular basis, but not of this size and color saturation. Very excited. That stone is currently in Antwerp being analyzed. We have an idea of what it will produce, but in terms of value, it's gonna take a couple of weeks before we understand the true potential of the stone, and then we'll look at the marketing processes around that one.

Speaker 2

Through the quarter, as I mentioned, the 6 stones over 100 carats, one of them being 300, also from stockpile, those 6 diamonds. We had 4.3% of the stones recovered during the quarter were above 10.8 carats or characterized as specials, slightly below what we had in Q1 last year. In total, 72,000 carats recovered. Also slightly lower, but this, as Glenn Kondo mentioned, a function of the stockpile material that we are actually or went through in Q1. If I make a statement on the overall what we've seen from the stockpiles, I think this has been a very valuable quarter for us. Understanding what the stockpiles hold, where we potentially could see a significant upside value from those as well.

Speaker 2

I think there's been an intangible gain from a knowledge from the processing of the stockpile material in Q1. I have already touched on the safety record for the UGP. Actually, when we look at the last 3 months for both the operations and for the UGP, the total reportable injury frequency rate was actually 0 for the first quarter, which is very, very good. And that number that you see there, 0.54, is actually the project to date. Very, very good safety record. You can see that in the leading and lagging indicators.

Speaker 2

Lucara has actually received a number of awards over the past year and again in Q1 of 2026, with 3 awards coming from the Chamber of Mines, those specifically related to safety. winning the AfriSAFE Mining Company of the Year for a second year in a row, and very recently being awarded Safety, Health and Environment Awards through On Standby in Botswana, and that is facilitated through government agencies. A very strong track record. As I go through some of the pictures on the UGP, I'll specifically point to the housekeeping, and you can see the link between housekeeping and the safety record which we're seeing.

Speaker 2

On the project, we had that updated feasibility study or the 43-101 document that confirmed the updated capital number of $779 million, which includes the contingency. At the end of Q1, we had spent $472 million and committed a further $117 million. Total committed on the project to date is more than 75% of the expected capital number. A lot of the work now is really starting to see dividends as we get into the lateral development. With a lot of what we're doing underground now, there's been a lot of focus on advancing the lateral development.

Speaker 2

This is really so that when our lateral development contractor comes on board, there's a lot more working headings which allows us to actually ramp up to a much higher rate of production or development from underground, much quicker. As we've been going through that, we did spend $90 million on the underground in Q1 2026. As I mentioned, a lot of that on lateral development. The shaft equipping, the 127 bunton sets and guards, from the bottom of the shaft at 767 meters below surface, all of those are now installed. The stage which is used for the shaft sinking has now been removed, and the real focus is now on the structural steel. I'm gonna jump to the slide.

Speaker 2

That the structural steel that you see under the headframe in the picture on the right, most of that is now removed, and it gets replaced with specific guards, cage areas, all of your crash steel for the conveyances, and that's really where the focus is through the back end of Q1 and into Q2. When I talk about the underground development, we have now done more than 1.2 kilometers of lateral development from both the 285 and the 310 level below or above sea level. Actually as of today, they blasted in the ramp and this opens up access, so we can now walk from the 285 to the 310 level.

Speaker 2

You can imagine if you didn't have that, you would have to have equipment on each of the levels to be able to advance development. Just adding in these certain areas of flexibility where we can start to accelerate the lateral development when the contractor mobilizes. There's a point on that a bit later. We are also running a, it's called a Kempe drill, so we use this to test for water prior to mining into any specific area. There were a couple of isolated pockets of water which we encountered. This is not the same as what we had when they were doing the shaft sinking, where you were in the sandstones and the water came in from everywhere. These are isolated structural features which brings water in within the granite basement.

Speaker 2

I think the water's been very, very effectively managed by being proactive and understanding where there is potential for us to hit water. That in conjunction with the updating of the geological models, which happens on an ongoing basis. When we look at, I specifically I wanted to mention this as well. We are very constrained at this point. As they are doing the equipping of the production shaft, and this is your main conveyances. It's the big main materials winder, its counterweight, the auxiliary winder, and then the 2 21-ton skips. All the material that comes out from underground has to be excavated and moved up through the vent shaft. The cable or the container that we use there can only do a maximum of 500 tons a day.

Speaker 2

The advancing of 100 or 1,245 meters of lateral development, does show the quality of the work being done in the pictures as well as the work that the guys are actually doing in a very positive manner. Our lateral development contract has actually started to mobilize people to site. We are now on a regular basis sitting down with them, updating them on what's actually happening so that they know exactly what the status is going to be of the underground when we do hand over to them. That's a very strong collaboration there.

Speaker 2

In terms of the surface infrastructure, a lot of work, big civil structures for the ventilation fans, and all these long lead items which are now already on site, and prepping for installation. A couple of pictures. The one on the left there is the evaporation pond. This was taken when we were on site, what, a week and a half ago. It looks like there's a lot of water in there. Most of that is rain, and it's only about knee-deep. We still don't have enough water in there to actually run the evaporators. We're talking that dam is more than 300 meters long, lots of capacity in there. That's more of a contingency if we do start to see water from underground.

Speaker 2

As I mentioned, that central column underneath the production shaft, a lot of that has now been removed, all of the chute work, et cetera, which was used for shaft sinking, and we're now installing screens, conveyances and the guides for your main conveyances and the skips. As I mentioned earlier, the image on the right is the 310 level. I'm standing with my back towards the kimberlite, looking straight down what is called VDR one. This is the main access drive which we're pushing to get to the kimberlite, so we can actually get to the contact and start to put dewatering processes in.

Speaker 2

The key thing that you'll notice here in both that one and the 310 ramp that goes down to the 285, and as I mentioned, that was holed this morning, is the housekeeping. The quality of the work underground, the cleanliness is exceptionally high. I think that is also what's contributing to this fabulous safety record, which we see being recorded quarter on quarter. On the 285 level, picture on the left is the conveyor structure. This is for a side loading conveyor. This feeds into the production shaft, the 21 ton skips. As soon as the conveyances and the skips are commissioned, this will be ready, and we'll start to have much more capacity than that 500 tons a day, which I mentioned through the vent shaft.

Speaker 2

That's really what gives us the opportunity to accelerate the lateral development underground. Those two things, getting the skips up and running and the mobilization of the lateral development are critical to really starting to push the timeline forward. Then just again, the bulkheads or the ventilation doors at the 285 level. Again, I just wanna point out the cleanliness and the excellent housekeeping which we are seeing underground. Looking ahead, as we've mentioned, very happy with the updated capital structure. Our ability to now move forward and develop the project without having the continuous concern about the financing hanging over us.

Speaker 2

We are maintaining our guidance, as Glenn mentioned, for revenue, processing, et cetera, through the year. We have again, even though we're processing stockpile, we have seen the ongoing recovery of large, and when we look at that bluestone, potentially very high value stones. I think that is the history of this asset. We've actually added in there. A lot of people are asking us specifically how geopolitical challenges are actually affecting the diamond industry. We have seen for the smaller sales, a lot of the smaller diamonds that flow through the Middle East into India. When we start to look at the product, again, the one thing that makes Lucara special, is these large, high quality stones.

Speaker 2

They have remained resilient when we look at the impact of both the geopolitical lab-grown stones and the general market environment. I think when we look at what we have, it is far more appealing as a hard luxury asset than what we are seeing being affected within the diamond sector itself. Won't touch too much on this. We are maintaining this. This is the same as the guidance which we put out at the back end of 2025. Overall, I think Q1 was a very good quarter. It has put Lucara back into a very, very strong position to complete the underground and really start to see the dividend from what we know Lucara has seen in the past when mining EM/PK(S) material.

Speaker 2

We're really looking forward to touching the kimberlite, so we can actually start to see that goes through the process plant, and see the true value of what this asset has to offer. I will hand it back at this point to the operator for Q&A, please.

Speaker 1

Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please click on the Q&A icon on the left-hand side of your screen. You will see the options to raise your hand to join the question queue and ask your question verbally, or write a question to submit your question in writing. When you are introduced, you will see a prompt on screen asking you to click Continue. You will be live in the call as soon as you do so. Anyone who is dialed in to the conference call may press star then one on your telephone keypad to join the question queue. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please navigate to the Q&A icon on screen or in the call, press star then one. There appear to be no questions. William, would you like to-

Speaker 2

Okay.

Speaker 1

Provide any closing remarks?

Speaker 2

I'd just like to again reiterate, thank you to everybody for dialing into our Q1 2026 results call. Hannah will be available. If there are any questions, please feed them through the info at LucaraDiamond.com email address, and we'll be happy to get hold of you and arrange a separate call if there are any. Thank you very much, and have a good weekend.

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