Good afternoon. My name is Ina, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Lucara Diamond Q3 2023 Results Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press Star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press Star, then the number two. Thank you. Mr. William Lamb, you may begin your conference.
Thank you, Ina, and thank you, everybody. Welcome to the Lucara Diamonds Q3 2023 Results Conference Call. We will be making some forward-looking statements during this, so I would like you to at your own leisure review slide two. On the call with me, I have Zara Boldt, Lucara's CFO, and John Armstrong as well. Thank you, Zara. So a brief overview of the 2023 Q3 highlights. We had revenues of $56.9 million, which resulted in an adjusted EBITDA of $21.9 million. Cash flows were actually really good at $15.9 million for the quarter, with an operating cost of 2,862 per ton processed, which we'll see later is well below the guidance which we actually had for the year.
I think the highlight of the quarter was the recovery of the 1,080-carat stone. This is our fourth + 1,000-carat stone that has been recovered, and by far the only mine ever to achieve something like this. The underground project has actually moved from the grouting programs into sinking now. We completed the grouting programs in Q3 and invested a total of $20.3 million in doing that. I think the results which we're seeing are on the back of a very strong safety performance, and no lost time injuries, no reportable environmental matters during the quarter.
During the quarter, we also did terminate the HB sales agreement, and based on ongoing discussions, we have revised our 2023 guidance in terms of the expected revenue sold. I want to just reiterate here, it's not that we don't have the diamonds to sell, it's the mechanism by which we're going to sell those, and that's the primary reason why the guidance has been adjusted. In terms of specials for the quarter, we recovered 6.8% of our production was larger than 10.8. Included in that was six diamonds larger than 100 carats, and three larger than 300 carats. In terms of the debt facility, we are working very closely with the lenders.
We've drawn $90 million out of the $117 million term facility and $35 million out of the working capital facility, and we'll provide an update on that a little bit later. Next slide, please. In terms of the Karowe underground expansion, as I mentioned, $20.3 million was invested in Q3. Good progress was made. We've now gone through the Damoso, the water-bearing sandstones. As I speak now, we are in the mudstones, and sinking activities have actually progressed at a much more rapid pace. In the vent shaft, we have actually completed the cubby. I'll show you on the next slide, and things are actually progressing at a fairly reasonable pace at this stage as we get into the routine of just standard sinking.
In terms of the mobilization for civil works, this is primarily for the temporary and permanent bulk air coolers. The temporary one should be switched on fairly soon. I think they start commissioning that this week. Although temperatures in the bottom of the shaft aren't as hot towards what it would be in the pits, most likely between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius at the moment. And we have signed a contract for the fabrication of the permanent shaft winders, and in terms of engineering, we're really focusing on both the shaft sinking, underground infrastructure engineering, and the final level plans. And that's obviously going to be critical as we move into a phase of contracting for the lateral development. Next slide, please.
In terms of the overall expansion and the focus for Q4, we've got about $105 million, which we expect to spend in--on the underground development in 2023. That's primarily again, focused on the sinking of the ventilation shaft and the production shaft. Good progress, as I mentioned, is being made there. Ventilation shaft now is well beyond 300 meters below collar, and the production shaft catching up very quickly. As I mentioned, the excavation of the 718 cubby, and if you look very carefully just below where it says production shaft, there's a little section that sticks out. So that is now being completed and we're back into sinking.
The next critical phase for us, both in the production and the ventilation, is the station development, and that happens at the 670-meter level. We expect to be there, most likely around the end of November into the first week in December. In terms of the grouting programs, and this was what has led to part of the expenditure and the cost overrun, we've now made our way through that. The cover drilling, which we've Or the test drilling, which is done to determine whether we are gonna do a grouting cover, carries on with every significant move down 30-40 meters in the shaft.
And what we are seeing as we've now entered the mudstones is a much, much lower water component than what we saw above, which is also allowing us to continue to sink versus having to do additional grouting cover plans. Obviously, there's a lot of equipment which we're looking to purchase now, which will get us through into 2024. As I mentioned, the bulk air coolers, a lot of civil works happening for those on site. And as I mentioned as well, the preparation for going out for our lateral development contractor, a lot of those documents are now being drafted, so we can start to address that in 2024.
There's obviously the continual detailed design engineering, which is happening, and that's really to support both surface infrastructure as well as the layouts underground. Thank you. Next slide, please. One of the things that makes Karowe special is obviously the consistent recovery of our large plus 10.8 carat stones. The graph that you see there is exactly just the testament to where we are. We had messaged to the market that in the first two quarters of the year, we would be mining in the north and center, and then coming back to the south lobe.
You can see exactly that in the curve, where the red, the thick red line actually trended towards the bottom of recoveries as we mined in areas which are obviously not renowned for the recovery of the larger stones. Then as from about mid-year, we started to mine back into the south lobe, you can see the appreciable increase in the volume of 10.8 carat stones. I ask a lot of people and investors, do they know why we're going underground? The graph that you see on the right really talks to that. Because we will be mining 100% EMPKS when the underground matures in 2028, the volume of material processed through the mill does not change.
We're still looking at 2.7 million tons per annum, but the volume of +10.8-carat stones increases significantly by a factor of 75%-80%. So where we are, historically mining between 20 and 25,000 carats of 10.8-carat stones, that number jumps to just shy of 40,000 carats for the same volumetric througHBut. It is the reason why we're going underground. We are targeting much higher value material at depth, and that's obviously the reason for the focus and ongoing development of the underground operations. Next slide, please. The highlights of the quarter, and this is always a fun thing to celebrate, is the ongoing recovery of these large and exceptional stones.
The diagrams that you can see there, the one on the left is the 1,080-carat diamond. A beautiful, clean stone. You can see one or two little black PKs. There was a 115-carat piece which came off the back of that, which again, fortunately for us, that goes into the color machine, so we know that the diamond is a Type IIa white. That one is currently sitting in Gaborone, and we were actually very fortunate to be able to showcase that to the president this afternoon. The diagram on the right is a 692-carat stone, more of a complex stone. Some very, very significant clean bits in that, but these are two stones.
There's a 490-carat, far more complex, lots of inclusions in it, stone that we have in inventory. And I mention those because it just does support this slide and the slide before, for the ongoing recovery of these, these very large stones. So a 189, stones, larger than 10.8, recovered during the quarter. I've mentioned before, 6.8% weight of the production was specials. And then you can see the 84% coming from the South Lobe, and that's, from the previous curve, you can see that significant uptick in the volume of plus 10.8-carat stones, specifically because of the processing of material from, from the South Lobe. Next slide, please.
In terms of our sales channels, we obviously have the rough, that is the stones which are sold on tender. We generally have one tender per quarter. Most of the stones below 10.8, which don't go onto Clara, are sold via the tender process, and we've had very good success on the tender platform since the start of production back in 2012. 25% of our revenue comes from that one, and that is consistent for the Q3 quarter as well. In terms of Clara, this is the proprietary digital marketplace; this allows us to scan the stones and technically sell the polished outcome without actually having to polish it ourselves. It is only 8% of the revenue at this point.
We are looking at ways, some innovative ways of how we can actually increase volume on the platform. 8% of our revenue currently comes from diamonds sold on Clara. We're targeting diamonds between one and 10 carats at the moment in the better qualities, even though the system can actually do up to 15 carats in size. And then the mechanism used for the HB agreement was really to market and sell the polished diamonds. 67% of our revenue coming from that type of agreement. And that's obviously because we have the 10.8+ carat stones, where the vast majority of our revenue lies, we're going through the HB agreement, and I'm sure we'll get questions on that a little bit later. Next slide, please.
So in terms of the Clara update, because this is a 100% owned subsidiary of Lucara, we've had 88 sales so far completed through the Clara platform. More than $100 million has actually been transacted through the platform, and over 56,000 carats sold. And it is a low operating cost. We have the agreement with Sarine to scan them. And as we continue to look for additional third-party diamonds to put on the platform, as I mentioned, we've got they have already put in place some innovative ways to increase the volume.
But we do see this as a significant value generator, especially in the down market, which we see now, which will enable us to really apply a different sales mechanism where people are buying exactly what they want. And of course, the provenance that comes from the Clara platform does allow us to have that track and trace, which is, I think, what a lot of the younger people in the market are looking for at this stage. So at this point, I'm gonna hand off to Zara Boldt, the company's CFO, to go through the operating metrics for the third quarter. Thank you, Zara.
Thanks very much, William. Good morning and good afternoon, everyone. Just a reminder that some of my comments today will include forward-looking statements. So as William said earlier, please refer to slide two of the presentation for our cautionary statement. Also, certain financial measures that I will refer to during today's call and which appear in the presentation, are non-IFRS financial performance measures. These include adjusted EBITDA, adjusted operating earnings, operating cash flow per share, and operating costs per ton of ore processed. Please refer to our interim MD&A for details on how these measures are calculated. As a reminder, all references are to US dollars unless otherwise stated. Beginning with some operational highlights from the third quarter, ending September 30, 2023, all key operational metrics were achieved against plan and with a very strong safety record.
During the third quarter, we mined about 869,000 tons of ore, 954,000 tons of waste, and we processed about 725,000 tons of ore, all in line with expectations. We recovered 98,311 carats from direct milled ore at an average grade of 13.6 carats per 100 tons. As William said earlier, we recovered 189 specials in this quarter, including a 1,080-carat Type IIa white gem. This is the fourth +1,000-carat diamond recovered from Karowe. Inclusive of that diamond, we recovered six diamonds in excess of 100 carats and three diamonds in excess of 300 carats. 84% of the ore processed during the third quarter was from the South lobe, with the balance from the Center lobe.
We sold almost 112,000 carats in the third quarter through three different sales channels, and I'll speak to those results in more detail in a moment. The operating cost per ton of ore processed was $28.62 for the quarter. Like the Q2 results, and despite continued inflationary pressures, particularly for labor, a strong US dollar offset an increase in costs over the comparable quarter, in combination with ongoing efforts to reduce costs. Moving to slide 11, we have our financial results for the third quarter. We recognized revenue of $56.9 million during the three months ended September 30, 2023, which was an increase of 14% from Q3 2022, and we generated adjusted EBITDA of $21.9 million. These revenues were achieved despite a weaker rough diamond market.
The strong performance in Q3 reflects the weighting of our revenue to larger goods, where the pricing was more stable. Net income was $10.5 million for the quarter, generating basic and diluted earnings per share of $0.02. We generated cash flow from operating activities before changes in non-cash working capital of $20.2 million during the third quarter, which supported an investment of a similar amount into the underground expansion. Operating cash flow was $0.04 per share. While we are speaking about the third quarter financial highlights, I would like to make some comments about our cash position and liquidity.
At the end of September, we had cash and cash equivalents of $16.8 million, restricted cash and a cost overrun account of $18.4 million, working capital of $1.3 million, and we drawn $90 million from the $170 million project loan and $35 million from the $50 million working capital facility. We are presently not permitted to make further draws from either the working capital facility or the project loan until various amendments are negotiated with our lenders. We have been in active discussions with our lenders since the second quarter, and the lenders have granted various waivers and extensions to us related to certain near-term commitments that we have under both the project loan and the working capital facilities.
These near-term commitments, including the requirement to fund a cost overrun facility, the maturity date of the working capital facility, and the requirement to maintain a certain level of liquidity while amendments to the loan agreements are negotiated, are described in note one of the condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended September 3th, 2023, and also in the liquidity and capital resources section in our interim MD&A. Due to these near-term commitments, there is doubt regarding the company's ability to meet its commitments and discharge its obligations in the normal course of business. We do believe that we will be able to resolve the noted items through ongoing engagements with our lenders and with the support of our largest shareholder, who has provided a $50 million liquidity support guarantee. However, there can be no assurance that our efforts will be successful.
This week, we will be drawing on that liquidity support guarantee, and we will issue 450,000 common shares to the shareholder for calling upon the guarantee. Moving now to Slide 12, we have operational highlights for the nine-month period. All operating metrics were achieved in line with plan. Following a decision to accelerate mining in the open pit, we've updated our full year guidance, and I'll speak to that momentarily. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, we mined 2.1 million tons of ore, 2.6 million tons of waste, and we processed 2. million tons of ore. We recovered about 278,000 carats from direct milling, and we sold almost 268,000 carats. The operating cost per ton of ore processed for the nine-month period was $27.72.
On Slide 13, we have several year-to-date financial highlights. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, total revenue was $140.8 million, and Adjusted EBITDA was $52.8 million. Net income of $16.5 million resulted in earnings per share of $0.04. Operating cash flow before working capital adjustments was $50.6 million, and operating cash flow was $0.11 per share. Moving now to Slide 14, where we set out our quarterly diamond sales by sales channel. During the third quarter, we recognized revenue of $56.2 million from the sale of almost 112,000 carats from Karowe. This is inclusive of top-up payments of $0.9 million.
Large stone diamond market fundamentals continue to support healthy prices from the multi-year highs observed at the peak in Q1 2022, despite an overall softening of demand in the market. Under the HB sales agreement for the three months ended September 30, 2023, we recorded revenue of $38.4 million, inclusive of top-up payments of $0.9 million from the sale of just over 3,000 carats. Several high-value diamonds sold in the third quarter accounted for the significant increase in quarterly revenue when compared to Q3 2022, combined with a 26% increase in the volume of carats sold. The product mix delivered in Q3 2023 was mostly from the South lobe, with some contribution from the center. This represented a planned shift in mix from earlier this year.
The decrease in top-up payments in Q3 2023, versus the comparative quarter, can be attributed primarily to the number of high-value diamonds delivered to HB in preceding quarters, which were sold during Q3 2022. Natural variability in the quality profile of the plus 10.8-carat production in any production period or fiscal quarter is to be expected and results in fluctuations in recorded revenue and associated top-ups. These results are consistent with the resource model. Although the HB sales agreement was terminated at the end of September, we retain a contractual right to receive top-up payments from polished diamond sales for goods delivered prior to the termination of the agreement. We plan to sell our plus 10.8-carat production through other established sales channels, subject to pre-approval from the government of the Republic of Botswana.
On Clara, during the third quarter, we sold almost 2,500 Karowe diamonds, generating revenue of $3.7 million. The decrease in revenue from the comparative quarter is attributable to the shift in product mix from Karowe earlier this year, as well as lower volumes and lower valued goods, which were placed for sale. A soft market was observed, with price decreases in most categories as compared to a year ago. Price strength continued to be observed in stone sizes between five and 10.8 carats. At our quarterly tender, a total of just over one hundred and six thousand carats were sold in August, generating revenue, revenues of $14.1 million. Rough diamond prices began to soften in Q3 2022, following a significant increase in prices that began in 2021.
This quarter's tender results decreased 16% from the Q3 2022 tender. We've updated our fiscal 2023 guidance, as you can see on Slide 15. We changed our 2023 guidance for revenue, carats sold, ore and waste tons mined, and total operating cash costs per tonne of ore processed. Revisions to diamond revenue guidance and carats sold reflect changes to the sales mechanism for rough diamonds larger than 10.8 carats in size, following the termination of the HB agreement in combination with global rough diamond market impacts. Revenue is expected to be lower than initial guidance due to some uncertainty around the timing of sales between Q4 2023 and Q1 2024 for the +10.8-carat stones. These stones represent the smallest part of our production by value, pardon me, by volume, but the largest percentage by value.
Tons mined have been adjusted to reflect the acceleration of mining in the open pit. This change was implemented to access high value ore from the South lobe earlier in the mine plan, as well as to optimize costs. Following the expected completion of processing of the ex-pit material in Q1 2026, the plant will transition to processing stockpiled material until the delivery of ore from the underground expansion project begins in Q1 2028. Our estimate for tons processed remains consistent with the earlier release guidance. Anticipated increases to the estimated cost per tonne of ore processed have not materialized as expected due to the strong U.S. dollar, lower electricity costs, and cost optimization efforts. I will now turn the call back to William? William?
Sorry. Thank you, Zara. I had it on mute. One of the core components of any mining company now is a very strong focus on corporate social responsibility. And not just the activities that we would have in place, the investment that we do in the local community, it's really operating within a very strong governance framework. And the aspects which we see aligning with both the operations and the project, such as the GISTM in terms of tailings management, the RJC and the governance around how we actually operate and the way we treat our staff, all of those are critical components. And I think through the quarter, a lot of focus has been on exactly how we work in the environment in which we protect our employees.
As I mentioned, no lost time injuries in Q3. We're now at 1,047 days without a lost time injury. No reportable environmental matters, and we also did our ISO 45001 surveillance audit, which was completed at the start of Q4. In terms of overall standards, we have a very strong governance framework, which includes the policies which you see there. And then, as I mentioned, we're signed up to the Responsible Jewellery Council. We actually have an audit ongoing at site to recertify for the RJC now. We've signed up to the UN Global Compact, and we have 10 of the key 17 focus areas which we are managing with projects, et cetera, on site.
The Lucara's Sustainability Report is gonna be issued very, very shortly. And again, that'll focus on where we see a lot of the effort going to make sure that we are operating the Karowe mine in a very sustainable manner. Next slide, please. In terms of the community impact, image there shows we have the GM cycling race. We still haven't won it, so I think we're gonna have to get a couple of ringers in there to do that. But it's important for us to demonstrate that we're working in the communities, having events such as this. It is an extremely well-supported initiative. And as you can see there, it raised over $115,000, which then funds community libraries, et cetera, in the local areas.
We've got a number of different projects all the way from working on the abattoir. We've got our sports complex. We have a horticultural project, which we're supporting. There's a hardware store, and it's really these projects where we see a lot of our ability to influence good and leave sustainable skills in the area now and into the future. In terms of the sports complex, we hosted a soccer match there, just as a tester. And we really start to see the sporting complex being an integral part of drawing more people into the local areas, which then adds business in a much broader sense. Thank you. Next slide, please.
So really, in conclusion, and to wrap up, there's a lot of information in the appendix if people want to go and have a look at that afterwards. But the AK6 resource and the kimberlite, which we're mining at Karowe, and I mentioned this on a presentation which we did in Sweden a couple of months ago, that John and I did. It is an amazing asset. Never again will there be a mine that has the propensity to generate the revenue that this mine does, especially when we look at the plus 10.8-carat stones. And when we go underground, the fact that the resource has not disappointed so far, I think the underground is really gonna start to demonstrate just how fantastic the Karowe mine's resource is.
When we look at the underground, the learning has happened. All the effort that has gone into understanding, putting in the optimal grouting program, we see that. And if anybody was going down the shaft, they'd go, "Well, hang on, it's dry down here. Well, we thought that you had a water problem." And I think that the team on site, led by John, in a very large fashion, has really found a solution that is an extremely efficient way of dealing with the water. And we can see that those learnings will now carry us into the future as we continue to develop the underground shafts and looking to get into the lateral development. In terms of the open pit, it's one of those consistent things.
We actually have an open pit, which allows us to fund the underground. The fact that the last time we drew from the term loan was in the second quarter of this year, ongoing development has been funded from cash flow, and it's the operating mine that has been able to generate the cash flows, which has enabled us to carry on with the development of the operation. In terms of the resources and structure, we've now got the management structures in place that allows us to focus on specific deliverables.
The projects which we have, not just on the operational side, and obviously, the underground project is the biggest one, but all of those really are on the back of very, very supportive shareholders who continue, as Zara mentioned, the $15 million liquidity guarantee, continue to be there as resources against which we can draw. And then, as I mentioned, the third leg of the stool, we have to make sure that we are socially and environmentally focused. We want to be here for a long time. Our mining license goes to 2040, and I can definitely see the underground extending well beyond that, and it's now operating within the sustainable manner, which I think is gonna leave the lasting legacy of what Karowe means to Letlhakane, to Botswana, and obviously to Lucara shareholders well into the future.
That concludes the formal presentation. Ina, if you would take it back for the question and answer period, please.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. As a reminder, should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your telephone keypad. You will hear a three tone prompt acknowledging your request. Questions will be taken in the order received. Should you wish to cancel your request, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please leave your handset before pressing any keys. One moment please, for your first question. Your first question comes from the line of Raj Ray from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Thank you, operator. Good morning, William and team. A few questions. I'll go one at a time. Let's start with the diamond market. I mean, with the given that the HB agreement is no longer there and you're gonna, you're gonna go sell your 10.8+ carat through tender, are you still looking to do the quarterly tenders, or are you gonna increase the number of tenders? And how does the current diamond market—the Indian diamond industry has announced a moratorium on the rough diamonds buying from October 15 to December 15. Does that impact you at all? If you can talk to that, please.
Thank you, Raj. Let me just correct you. We are not gonna be selling our 10.8-carat stones through the tender process as of today. As Zara mentioned, we are still waiting for approval from the governments of the Republic of Botswana for an official approval to be able to sell our 10.8 carats, either through tender or through some other mechanism. If we do get approval, then we'll message to the market how those plus 10.8 carats are gonna be sold, whether it's gonna be another agreement similar to HB. That is what we're busy working on at the moment. In terms of the overall market, we have seen fairly consistent pricing for the smaller goods sold at auction in Q3.
With the discussions currently from the G7, the De Beers sight of only $80 million, compared to normally +$400 million. We do see demand coming back to the market because of the lack of supply. So I think our numbers so far have not been affected as much as what some others would have been. You've got Stornoway, who have put their operation in care and maintenance. So there are these little triggers which are changing the supply-demand dynamic. But I'm actually gonna ask you, John, did you want to make any comments on the market and specifically the ban on imports of Russian goods into India?
Yes, I can, William. Thanks, everyone. The other component, it really, I think you kinda touched on it, but I would add, around the Indian market, is that, you know, the timing of our sale closing, the beginning of December, we don't feel that the that, that sort of self-imposed, ban on goods going into, India will impact us. The Indian buyers will need to, be in a position to restock after, after the holiday season there, and also, not, you know, really participating in a lot of tenders. So it, it allows them to come to the tender, purchase the goods, and then import them into India, very shortly thereafter. So I don't we're not too concerned about that.
And again, to William's point, you know, overall, we're targeting around 100,000 carats at that tender. It's a fairly, you know, low volume of goods. We've seen it in the past when the market's been distressed like this, that we still have very active participation in our tenders, and given the lot sizes are relatively small, we get good participation and still get pretty consistent and good pricing. That would be all I would add on that point, William.
Thank you, John.
William, the other question I had was, and I asked this question before with respect to the 1,080 carats. I wanted to know if you had the, the chance to scan it, and how does it compare to Lesedi La Rona? If you can comment on that.
I'm gonna ask John to opine on that one as well. In terms of the quality, John, of the 10 or the 1,080.
Sure. The 1,080 is, as William mentioned, we have an idea of the color. There was a piece that came off the one end in that photo in the deck. It's that part of the stone that the individual is holding, there was a piece that came off there. So we're pretty confident on the color. In terms of, you know, what it will yield with respect to pricing, so that's probably where you're going, Raj, at the end of the day, it's a little. It is too early to tell. I mean, there has to be some more work done on it. It's obviously a completely different diamond market now than it was in 2017. The diamond itself is a rather unique shape.
It's quite long, over or pushing 80 millimeters in the longest dimension. So in terms of, you know, what could come out of it, it's quite a different model than the Lesedi La Rona. In that respect, it's not blocky like the Lesedi was. It's got that elongated shape. The color is, you know, like a lot of the high-value, large stones that come out of Karowe. The expectation will be that it'll be a D color. There are some complexities with the PKs in there, so like, it is sort of too early even for us to kind of speculate on what the polished outcome could be in terms of number of stones, large stone, and things of that nature. And then the value aspect will have to come into play.
But again, I would just make the point that, 2023, the market is quite different than it was in 2017.
Okay.
But it is-
Thanks for-
Amazing diamond.
Okay.
At the end of the day-
Okay
It is stunning, stunning stone, so.
Okay. Okay, that's great. Thank you. William and John, just back to the Sarine, I mean, you got $20 million till now. What's the expectation? I mean, are you expecting more payments on, on that?
The answer today would be yes. In terms of timing, I've been in communication with HB. They do have one or two potential sellers. They have indicated that it may only be around the Chinese New Year. But in previous discussions that management had had with HB, there is a very specific number which the company would like to see for that stone, and I think they need our approval to sell it for less. So we do have a very specific target for the revenue generated from that stone.
Okay, thanks, John. And one last question with respect to the debt rebase agreement. I know you're still, negotiations are ongoing, so I'm not sure how much you can say, but should we expect anything in the next two days, given that your working capital facility, the extension expires November fifteenth? And then the other question is: Are you still looking to both increase the capacity? I know that the repayment terms need, needs to be amended, but at the same time, is it also the company's intention to increase the capacity under those loan agreements?
Zara, would you like to take that, please?
Certainly. So hi, Raj. We do have an extension request pending with respect to the November fifteenth deadline, and so hopefully we'll have some news here shortly. We've made very good progress with the lenders. At this time, we are not looking to increase the quantum of funding. So you'll remember that's $220 million, $170 million as a project loan, and $50 million as a working capital facility. So the total quantum is not expected to increase, and the balance of the funding is still expected to come from cash flow from operations. Thank you.
Okay, that's good. That's it from me. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Raj.
Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Andre Goven, from a private investor. Please go ahead.
I was wondering, you seem to be having a cash flow problem there, and you have probably a lot of AR. Your latest find could probably be sold quickly, and I don't understand why you need to carry a loan facility of $50 million all the time when you could sell those big stone quickly. Are we expecting dilution? And what happened to the pink diamond? Thank you.
Okay, Zara, would you like to take the financial question? And John, if you have an answer on the pink diamond.
Sure, I can start. Hi, Andre. Thank you for the question. As you're aware, we're engaged in a fairly significant capital project. The development of the underground expansion will take over five years and cost an estimated $683 million. We sell our diamonds in different ways, and we use both the project loan. So the project loan is used to fund the development of the underground expansion, along with cash flow from operations. The working capital facility is used to manage our cash flow just over the course of the year. Our last draw from the project loan was in January of last year, and our last utilization under the working capital facility was in June.
There are specific ways that we are permitted to sell our diamonds, as William has spoken to previously. So it's just a little bit of a management here. We are selling diamonds for good prices. We continue to recover and sell diamonds consistently, which I think is important, and there is still a market for the diamonds which we produce. John, would you like to take the question on the Boitumelo, which was recovered in July of 2021?
Yes, yes, I sure can. So that stone went up to Antwerp under the HB agreements. It was cut and polished. So if you remember that the rough weight on that stone was around 62 carats. We did end up with the one large piece that got polished out of it of over 20 carats. We have not disclosed the price that that particular diamond was sold for.
But what I can say is that it didn't meet our threshold to be called an exceptional stone, which means that it sold for less than $10 million on the polished of that particular piece. And that's all that we can really say about what happened with the Boitumelo. I mean, it was, again, it was a stunning stone. The polished product out of it was quite remarkable. But we're not really in a position to disclose the final value of the sale other than the information that I just gave.
Thanks, John.
Thank you.
Thank you. Once again, should you have a question, please press star then one on your telephone keypad. Your next question comes from the line of Paul Zimnisky from PZDA. Please go ahead.
Hi, everybody. Thanks for doing the call. I guess following up on maybe one of Raj's questions, when do you expect to get approval from the government allowing you to, I guess, move forward with the new sale, sale, selling strategy? And then kind of, you know, in, in, in line with that, theoretically, you know, if you begin selling via, say, a, a tender model again, how do you think the, the timeline of revenue recognition, will change, you know, compared to that of, of the HB agreement? And then, as far as the 1,080-carat and the 692-carat, will those be sold under HB, or would they be sold under the, the new mechanism?
Okay. So I would say that in terms of the timing for agreement from the government, I'm actually down in Botswana at the moment. We have had very constructive discussions with both the ministry as well as the office of the president, and everybody is working very, very hard to get to a conclusion with the government. To give you an exact date and time of when that's gonna happen is not possible at this stage, but we do hope that it's gonna be in a very, very short order. In terms of the 1,080 and the 692, but wait, your question around the tender.
If we do put the 10.8-carat stones on tender, it would only be for a short period of time, in which we would then negotiate an agreement very similar to HB, where we would see the polished sales being realized and the government getting royalties on the gross number from those polished sales. It is a model which the government wants to continue to move forward with. So we would obviously look to sell on tender while we put a new similar agreement in place. With regards to the 1,080 and the 692. 692, interestingly enough, because it is a complex stone, fits perfectly into the structure of a polished agreement. And we've put that stone on tender, we're never gonna see the real realized value from it.
So that is one of those stones which would be perfect for, a, an agreement similar to the, the DSA we had in place. In terms of the 1,080-carat stone, that being, what I would call another legacy stone for Botswana, I think we would most likely look to put an alternative agreement in place, something which, realizes not just a, value for a partner with the, in the middle market, but a retailer, plus, what we would consider to be a very active marketing program to showcase Botswana. We want to use these very, very large stones and their, their uniqueness to emphasize, as an example, the uniqueness of the, biodiversity which you get here in Botswana. How can we actually work with people like the Ministry of Tourism to promote?
That's really the direction in which we want to go over and above monetizing the 1,080 for as much as possible and Lucara and the government benefiting from the polished revenues generated from that stone.
Okay. Got it. Very clear. Thank you for that. And just maybe a balance sheet question. So the $18 million in restricted cash, that's money that's already put towards the overrun fund. So does that mean you have to put up $35 million additional for that overrun fund, and then, you have the $35 million, the working capital facility that's due, so that essentially meaning you need to come up with $70 million to cover those two by the deadline? Does that sound about right?
Zara, would you like to take that, please?
Certainly. So yes, the $18 million is in a cost overrun fund. The agreement under the facilities agreement is that that amount would reach $52.9 million. Presently, we have an extension of that requirement, along with an extension of the maturity date of the working capital facility, both to November 15th. And in the event that a further extension was not granted, that would trigger an event of default. We would need to repay the working capital facility, which has $35 million drawn, and we would, I guess, be required to put further amounts into the cost overrun facility under the terms of the project agreement. Thank you.
Okay. All right, thank you. And I guess just wanna wish all the best to John and Zara going forward. Thanks.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Please proceed.
Thank you, everybody, then, for attending Lucara's 2023 Q3 results call. We look forward to a productive Q4, as the underground now starts to mature, and we'll find some resolution on the sales mechanism, and we'll keep everybody updated. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. You may all disconnect.