An impressive-sized diamond that barely fits in the palm of a hand has been found in a mine in Botswana, a Canadian mining company announced today.
This is a gem 2,492 caratsthe second largest in the world.
This precious gem, which was located in the Karowe mine in the north-east of Botswana, Africa’s largest diamond producer, is «one of the largest rough diamonds ever discovered»underlines the company Lucara in a press release.
According to the government of Botswana, as well as many experts, it is the second largest diamond ever found on earth.
In terms of carats, it is not far behind the world’s best-known largest diamond, the “Cullinan“, over 3,100 carats, which was found in South Africa in 1905.
Historic discovery
“We are thrilled to have discovered this spectacular gem”said William Lamb, chief executive of Lucara, according to the press release, who, however, did not elaborate on the value of the stone or its quality.
The diamond is expected to be presented to President Moguetsi Masisi and journalists in Gaborone later.
“The historic discovery of this rough diamond, the most important in 120 years, is exciting,” said Tobias Kormid, the general manager of 77 Diamonds, the largest online jewelry store in Europe.
According to him, this large gem is the largest rough diamond that has been found since the discovery of the Cullinan diamond, which had been cut into several pieces, the largest of which was among the British Crown Jewels.
This discovery is due in large part to a recent x-ray detection technologywhich has been used by Lucara since 2017, which allows larger gems to be extracted from the ground without breaking into many pieces, the expert explains.
Botswana is one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, which are its main source of income, accounting for 30% of its GDP and 80% of its exports.
As Lucara points out in its press release, diamond revenues provide Botswana with significant socio-economic benefits, financing essential sectors such as education and health, as well as infrastructure in this country of 2.6 million people.
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