Diamond company Lucara ended off the 2012 calendar year on a high note with a tender of rough diamonds that yielded $12 million in revenues, Diamond Intelligence reports. Monday's sale of gems from Lucara's Karowe diamond mine in the southern African nation of Botswana consisted of 56 lots sold from a total of 62 lots tendered, with the remainder withheld due to low bidding. Altogether, 62, 238 carats were purchased at an average per-carat price of $273.

The final tender of the year brings Lucara's 2012 sales record in excess of the 230,000 carats of diamonds it had predicted in its mid-year forecast. Its diamond sales on the year came out to about $54 million.

Lucara chief executive officer William Lamb said that the firm anticipates that the coming year will see sales of around 400,000 carats of diamonds from its Karowe and Mothae mines combined, according to Diamond Intelligence.