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YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 19, ARMENPRESS. The biggest diamond to be found in more than a century has been discovered at a mine in Botswana, a Canadian mining company has said.
As “Armenpres” reports, citing theguardian website, the 1,111-carat “high-quality” gem is only second in size to the Cullinan diamond, which was unearthed in South Africa in 1905.
“The magnificent stone … is the world second largest gem quality diamond ever recovered and largest ever to be recovered through a modern processing facility,” the Stockholm-listed miner, Lucara Diamond, said.
Shares in the company jumped 34% to 14.2 kronor in Thursday morning trading.
Lucara said the gem was the largest recovered in Botswana, the world’s second biggest diamond producer. “The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century … cannot be overstated,” its chief executive, William Lamb, said.
The 65mm x 56mm x 40mm stone is yet to be evaluated, but one commodities and mining analyst said it had the potential to be “one very expensive diamond”. “Valuation will depend on potential inclusions, how it would behave in cutting, and optimal shape as well as final color. All these things will need to be evaluated prior to bidding,” Kieron Hodgson said.
The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, the world’s biggest, was found near Pretoria. It was cut to form the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa, which are set in the British crown jewels.
Lucara indicated there had been further significant finds at its Karowe mine this week – an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat one.