The Lucara Diamond Corp announced it has unearthed a 53.5 carat, white Type IIA diamond in the first week of production at the Company's Mothae mine in Lesotho, Market Wire said.

William Lamb, President and CEO of Lucara Diamond, said that the "recovery of this 53.5 carat stone on initial start up at the Mothae mine is a huge win for Lucara and Mothae Diamonds.

"Results of initial sampling work at Mothae indicated that large diamonds are present but were being broken by the limited material size which the original bulk sample plant could process.

"As a single stone, this diamond is more than twice the size of any previous diamond recovered from Mothae. Management views this as early confirmation of our technical assessment of Mothae's potential and the operational approach we have taken to advance this exciting project."