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by Will Purcell

The diamond and specialty minerals stocks box score on Thursday was a so-so 106-90-104 as the TSX Venture Exchange rose 14 points to 938. Lukas Lundin and Eira Thomas's Lucara Diamond Corp. (LUC) lost two cents to 74 cents on 168,000 shares. The company is sufficiently pleased with its arrangement with HB Antwerp, through which it is selling all its plus-10.8-carat special diamonds, that it is extending the "novel supply agreement" for another two years.

The arrangement is not novel by virtue of being new -- it has been in place since last summer -- but it is clearly unusual in the sense that Lucara is sending all its special diamonds to HB for cutting, polishing and eventual sale, with HB making an up-front payment for the stones, then sending along a further amount once the gems are sold.

According to the terms of the arrangement, the initial purchase price for the diamonds is based on the "estimated polished outcome" as determined through scanning and planning technology operated by the diamantaires. From there, once the cut diamonds are sold by HB, a further payment will be made based on a "true-up paid on actual achieved polished sales" value -- less a (significant) fee of course, and HB's costs of manufacturing the finished stones.

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