A 2,492-carat rough diamond found in Botswana may be the second-largest gem-quality rough diamond ever unearthed.
Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corporation announced that it had recovered an “extraordinary” rough diamond from its Karowe diamond mine, releasing a photo of the massive rough diamond resting in the palm of its hand.
The largest gem-quality diamond ever found is the 3,106 carat Cullinan Diamond, which was mined in 1905 when South Africa was still a British colony and given to King Edward VII. The Cullinan Diamond was cut into several gemstones, some of which are now part of the Crown Jewels.
“We are thrilled to recover this incredible 2,492 carat diamond,” Lucara President William Lamb said.
Lucara declined to say how much the “high quality” diamond was worth or whether it could be cut into a gemstone. Botswana's government said it was the largest diamond ever found in the country.
The company's Karowe mine has been producing increasingly larger rough stones. In 2019, Lucara unearthed the 1,758-carat Sewero diamond, which was the second-largest diamond ever mined in the world at the time. It appeared black and it was unclear how many gems would be cut from it, but it was purchased by Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed sum.
The 1,111-carat “Lesedi la Rona” diamond, also from Karowe, was purchased by a British jeweller for $53 million (£40 million) in 2017.
The largest diamond ever found is a black sergiolite, found above ground in Brazil in 1895 and cut for use in industrial drills. Black “carbonado” stones like sergiolite are thought to be part of a meteorite.
Russia is the world's largest diamond producer, but in recent years the biggest, most valuable finds have come from Botswana, a southern African nation seeking to expand its influence in the diamond industry, negotiating a new 10-year contract last year to take a gradually increasing share of the rough mined by Anglo-American De Beers.
According to the Botswana government, the country's President Mokwetsi Masisi will be one of the first to see Lucara's yet-named new diamond before it is unveiled to the world in the Oval Office.
