The biggest diamond in over a century — 2,492 carats — is found in Botswana
GABORONE, Botswana — The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday.
The government says the 2,492-carat stone is the second-biggest ever discovered in a mine. It’s the biggest diamond found since 1905.
The as-yet-unnamed diamond was presented to the world at the office of President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs about 18 ounces, and Masisi was one of the first to hold it.
Officials said it was too early to value it or decide how it would be sold. A smaller diamond from the same mine was sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem.
A huge diamond weighing more than 1,000 carats, which could be the third-largest mined in history, has been discovered in Botswana.
“This is history in the making,” said Naseem Lahri, the Botswana managing director for Lucara Diamond Corp., the Canadian mining company that found the diamond. “I am very proud. It is a product of Botswana.”
Lucara Diamond said in a statement Wednesday that it recovered the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe mine in central Botswana.
The company said it was a high-quality stone and was found intact.
It was located using X-ray technology designed to find large diamonds.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara Diamond President and Chief Executive William Lamb said in a statement.
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan diamond, which was discovered in South Africa in 1905.
The famous Cullinan was 3,106 carats and was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British crown jewels.
A bigger, less pure black diamond was discovered in Brazil in the late 1800s, but it was found above ground and was believed to have been part of a meteorite.
Africa: Despite the relative prosperity the jewels finance, conditions are still bleak for many of its populace.
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of natural diamonds behind Russia and has unearthed all of the world’s biggest stones in recent years.
The Karowe mine has produced four other diamonds over 1,000 carats in the last decade.
Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe mine in 2019, was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. It was bought by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed amount.
The 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from the Karowe mine, was bought by a British jeweler for $53 million in 2017.
Another diamond from Karowe, the Constellation, was sold for the record $63 million.
Diamonds are formed when carbon atoms are squeezed together under high pressure, usually deep underground.
Scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old and some are more than 3 billion years old.
Motseta writes for the Associated Press.
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