GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The largest diamond found in more than a century has been discovered in a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed the fist-sized stone to the world at an unveiling ceremony Thursday.
The Botswana government says the massive 2,492-carat diamond is the second-largest ever discovered in a mine. It is the largest diamond found since 1905.
The yet-to-be-named diamond was presented to the world at the office of Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs about half a kilogram and Masisi was one of the first to hold it.
“It’s overwhelming,” Masisi said. “I’m lucky to have seen it in my time.” He gasped and said, “Wonderful,” before calling in senior government officials to take a closer look.
Officials said it was too early to assess the stone or determine how it would be sold. A smaller diamond from the same mine in Botswana sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem.
“This is history in the making,” said Naseem Lahri, managing director of Lucara Diamond, the Canadian mining company that found the diamond. “I’m very proud. It’s a product of Botswana.”
Lucara said in a statement on Wednesday that it had found the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe mine in central Botswana. Lucara said it was a “high quality” stone and was found intact. It was located using X-ray technology designed to find large, high-value diamonds.
“We are delighted to have recovered this exceptional 2,492-carat diamond,” William Lamb, Lucara’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
This weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years and the second largest diamond ever mined after the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905. The famous Cullinan weighed 3,106 carats and was cut into gemstones, some of which are part of the British Crown Jewels.
A larger, less pure black diamond was discovered in Brazil in the late 19th century, but it was found above ground and is believed to have been part of a meteorite.
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second largest producer of natural diamonds after Russia, and has discovered All the largest stones in the world In recent years, the Karowe mine has produced four more diamonds weighing over 1,000 carats in the past decade.
Prior to this discovery, the Siwelo Diamond, found at the Karowe Mine in 2019, was recognized as the second largest diamond ever mined in the world at 1,758 carats. It was purchased by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed sum.
A British jeweler bought the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona, also from Botswana’s Karowe mine, for $53 million in 2017. Another Karowe diamond, The Constellation, sold for a record $63 million.
Diamonds are formed when carbon atoms are squeezed together under high pressure deep within the Earth. Scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old, and some are more than 3 billion years old.
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