The ASX-listed company (LOM) appointed Richard Tucker and Paul Pracilio of insolvency firm KordaMentha on 22 May 2025. Lucapa owns the Merlin Mine in the Northern Territory.
The voluntary administration includes three associated companies: Brooking Diamonds, Heartland Diamonds and Australian Natural Diamonds.
KordaMentha announced an urgent assessment of the Group and its operations and advised it “will shortly be commencing a dual-track recapitalisation and sale process for the Group”.
In May 2021, Lucapa began acquiring the Merlin Mine, one of Australia’s two remaining viable diamond mines, from the liquidators of its previous owner.
The binding Asset Sale Agreement, valued at $8.5 million, included the mining lease and exploration tenement — located approximately 720km southeast of Darwin — as well as equipment and assets.
The acquisition was finalised in December 2021 and, at the time, was said to be the biggest commercial diamond mining operation in Australia with a targeted yield of 153,000 carats per year when it began full-scale production in 2024.
Rio Tinto previously operated the Merlin site before North Australian Diamonds, also known as Merlin Diamonds, acquired it in 2004.
Based on the company's feasibility study, the new venture was projected to produce 2.1 million carats throughout Merlin’s expected 14-year ‘lifespan’, with projections centred on a combination of open pit and vertical mine development.
Lucapa also operated mining projects in Africa, where in September 2022, it announced the discovery of a 131-carat white Type IIa diamond at its Lulo site in Angola.
The company reported that the large stone was the 29th diamond it had unearthed of more than 100 carats and the fourth 100+ carat diamond recovered at Lulo in 2022.
In July of the same year, a large 170-carat pink diamond was discovered at Lulo. The type IIa rough has been dubbed the Lulo Rose and is believed to be the largest pink diamond found in the past three centuries.
However, in March 2024, Lucapa sold its 70 per cent stake in the Mothae mine in Lesotho as part of a broader plan to streamline its operations and focus on core assets.
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