Weekly "Focus" and Diamonds are Forever

Lucara Diamond* is a Canadian mining company operating in Botswana and last week it found a 2,492-carat diamond. This is the largest diamond found in over 100 years and would be awfully hard to wear on a ring finger as it weighs about a pound. The discovery led to a 90% surge in the share price of Lucara (symbol LUC) bringing the market value of the company above $200 million (i).

 

 

Some of the world’s largest mining companies have diamond mining operations although they represent a small fraction of the company’s value. Canada’s largest mining companies were taken over years ago (remember Alcan, Falconbridge, and Inco) so the list of the most valuable mining companies is now headed by two Australian companies – BHP and Rio Tinto.

 

	Total Return in 2024	Dividend Yield
BHP Group (BHP)	-17.1%	5.2%
Freeport-McMoRan* (FCX)	+4.0%	1.4%
Glencore (GLNCY)	-10.8%	2.1%
Rio Tinto (RIO)	-11.9%	6.9%
Southern Copper (SCCO)	+21.7%	2.3%

Source: FactSet, Values as of August 29, 2024

 

This week’s "Focus" from our economics team is attached.

 

Have a great long weekend,

 

Brad

Senior Portfolio Manager and Senior Investment Advisor