Lucara didn’t reveal the diamond’s gem high quality, however its measurement — bigger than a tennis ball and several other occasions heavier — is just second to the three,106 carat Cullinan diamond. The long-lasting treasured stone was present in neighbouring South Africa in 1905 and have become a part of the British crown jewels as soon as minimize and polished.
“We’re ecstatic in regards to the restoration of this extraordinary diamond,” William Lamb, president and chief govt of Lucara stated in a press release. “This discover not solely showcases the exceptional potential of our Karowe mine, but additionally upholds our strategic funding in cutting-edge XRT know-how”.
The Karowe mine has produced a number of massive diamonds in recent times, together with the 1,758-carat Sewelô in 2019, the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona in 2015, and the 813-carat Constellation, additionally in 2015. The mine can also be credited for having yielded Botswana’s largest fancy pink diamond up to now, the Boitumelo.
The Vancouver-based miner introduced the yet-to-be-named diamond to Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Thursday, who touted the large stone as the biggest diamond discovered in additional than 100 years.
The African nation is the world’s largest producer of diamonds and the commerce has remodeled it right into a middle-income nation.
Karowe stays one of many highest-margin diamond mines on the earth, producing a median of 300,000 high-value carats annually.
The three largest diamonds discovered on the Karowe mine: