The Lucara Diamond Corporation has reported that the results from its trial mining at Lesotho's Mothae diamond mine were "excellent."

Thus far, nearly 87,000 tons of ore from the C kimberlite pipe at Mothae have been found to contain 2,101.73 carats of diamonds, with the breakdown of large stones as follows: three diamonds weighing 53.53 carats, 37.24 carats and 20.26 carats; nine diamonds weighing 10-20 carats; 25 diamonds weighing 5-10 carats; and 97 diamonds of 2-5 carats.

Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said that the recovery of a 53-carat Type II diamond from the first 3,000 tons of ore process confirmed the company's belief that Mothae would "generate some of the rarest diamonds in the world."

Lamb said that Lucara was looking forward to its first open tender sale of diamonds from Mothae, which it planned to hold in the first quarter of 2011.

Lesotho is known for the exceptional size and quality of its diamonds; last week

Gem Diamonds announced that its Letseng mine in Lesotho had yielded a 185-carat rough white diamond, which follows the discovery of a 196-carat diamond at the same mine this summer. Gem Diamonds reports that the Letseng mine was the source of three of the largest 20 stones recovered by the diamond industry in the past four years.