Brazil's largest diamond producer unveils IPO plans

The largest diamond producer in Brazil, Lipari Mineração, is planning to list its shares on Canada's venture capital exchange TSX Ventures and raise around US$25mn, a company spokesperson told BNamericas.

Lipari expects to conclude process by April, the spokesperson said.

The company will use the proceeds from the IPO to invest in its existing diamond operation in the northeast state of Bahia, develop a new deposit in Pará state, and for an acquisition in Angola.

Lipari has been operating since 2016 and it is the first company to develop mining from kimberlite, the parent rock of diamond. Its open pit Braúna diamond mine is located in the municipality of Nordestina, about 350km from Bahia state capital Salvador.

The planned acquisition in Angola will provide scale for the company to carry out the IPO and its proceeds will help finance the future operation in the African country. “The kimberlite mines in Angola are five times bigger than what we have in Brazil," Kenneth Wesley Johnson, the company's president, told Brazilian daily O Estado de S. Paulo.

Last year Lipari produced 135,000 carats of diamonds, up from 115,000 in 2020, generating gross revenue of 130mn reais (US$24mn).

For 2022, output is expected to drop to 110,000 carats due to a production halt this month to modernize the company's equipment.