TSX-, Nasdaq- and Botswana Stock Exchange-listed Lucara Diamond Corporation finalised its inaugural diamond sale through its digital sales platform, Clara Diamond Solutions, in December.

Seven manufacturers participated in the sale, five of whom matched and received their orders through the platform.

CEO Eira Thomas said in a statement on Tuesday that the trial sale marked a momentous milestone for Clara and that it confirmed the platform’s commercial viability.

The trial sale was conducted in partnership with a select group of large vertically integrated jewellery houses and global diamond manufacturers, who placed orders on the platform.

Revenue generated from successful orders on the platform from the trial sale was $660 865.

Orders in the first sale included diamonds between 1 ct and 4 ct in size, in the better colours and qualities, sourced from Lucara’s Karowe mine, in Botswana, as well as additional aggregated third-party rough diamonds.

Goods of about the same value have been set aside for the next sale, which is scheduled to take place later this month.

In the coming weeks, Lucara will gradually add diamonds to the platform, as additional manufacturers are on-boarded, as well as in response to increasing variety and size of orders received. Thomas confirmed that the company is in active discussions with a number of leading diamond producers who are interested in using the platform.

In time, as supply and demand is optimised, Lucara will progress into continuous sales of appropriate, qualifying goods through Clara.

Meanwhile, Lucara will continue to augment its overall sales strategy through a combination of Clara and its regular tender process.

HOW IT WORKS

Clara uses proprietary analytics, with the latest cloud and blockchain technologies, to sell rough diamonds individually, based on polished characteristics and demand, transforming the sales process, driving efficiencies and unlocking value for diamond producers and manufacturers alike.

Under an exclusive collaboration agreement with Sarine Technologies, a digital fingerprint of each rough diamond is created and uploaded to the Clara platform with a corresponding asking price. 

Simultaneously, diamond buyers upload their specific polished diamond requirements in terms of size, cut, colour and quality, including their desired purchase price, creating an order within Clara. 

Clara then uses proprietary analytics to match individual, scanned rough diamonds to the buyers' optimal polished requirements.

Clara earns the differential between the asking price and purchase price of each match as its revenue and requires a minimum transaction spread to facilitate an optimal match.

Lucara stated that the benefits of using Clara included that it eliminates diamond sales by assortments, and rather facilitates diamond sales “stone by stone”, achieving the best possible pricing for producers.

In addition, manufacturers only buy the diamonds they want, eliminating the need to re-trade and finance unwanted inventories, achieving higher margins.

Other benefits include the platform facilitating continuous sales compared with fixed sales cycles, which smooths out revenue streams, and every rough diamond is tracked using blockchain technology, keeping a secure record of its origin and ownership, which ensures peace of mind for consumers.