A 2,492-carat raw diamond, discovered in Botswana, is believed to be the world’s second-largest gem-quality sample to be ever found. It’s second only to the 3,106 carat Cullinan diamond from South Africa, according to the BBC. The giant gemstone was found in Botswana’s Karowe diamond mine, about 500km north of Botswana’s capital, Gaborone. The mine is owned by Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp.
Although Lucara Diamond Corp has not made any comments on the diamond’s quality or value, Financial Times, in a report quoted unnamed sources, to estimate that it could fetch a price of over $40 million.
Lucara Diamond’s president, William Lamb, said in a statement. “We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond. The ability to recover such a massive, high-quality stone intact demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to diamond recovery.”
BBC further noted that Botswana was one of the world’s biggest producers of diamonds accounting for 20 percent of the global diamond production. The Botswana government said that the huge stone was the biggest discovery since the Cullinan diamond. It stated that the diamond, yet to be named, was also the largest ever discovered in the southern African state.
Reportedly, Karowe mine is known for unearthing several large precious metals in the last decade. A 1,758-carat diamond found in the mine was purchased by luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton in 2019. Before that, Graff Diamonds had bought the 1,109-carat diamond found in Karowe in 2016 for a whopping $53 million in 2010.
Talking about the technology used in recovering the diamond, it was detected by Lucara’s Mega Diamond Recovery (MDR) X-ray Transmission (XRT) technology, installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds.
Meanwhile, 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 190, remains the largest diamond to be discovered. It is cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.
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