Smaller only than a precious stone carved up to adorn the British crown jewels, the second-largest diamond ever unearthed is a nearly tennis-ball-size gem discovered in Botswana very recently.
This giant sized diamond was found last week at the Karowe Mine in Botswana, said Lucara Diamond Corp., the Vancouver-based company that owns and operates the mine. Officially the second largest diamond is said to be a 1,111-carat gem-quality diamond. The second largest diamond ever dug out was among a cache of huge white diamonds discovered at Karowe last week.
The cache included a 374-carat gem and an 813-carat stone which was the sixth-largest ever found, the company said. One carat is equivalent to one-fifth of a gram.
“I am truly at a loss for words. We are truly blessed by this amazing asset,” said Lucara Chief Executive William Lamb.
Following the diamond discovery the share value of Lucara were up 28% in Toronto. Company sources said that the value of the diamond could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
The largest diamond ever discovered was a 3,106-carat Cullinan stone found in South Africa in 1905. The Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa, both of which are housed in Britain’s crown jewels, were cut from the largest ever diamond that was found.
Botswana, South Africa and Namibia are among the biggest producers of mined diamonds. Australia and Russia also are important suppliers.
Without more details about color or the ways it could be cut it is hard to put a value on a diamond, said Numis Securities analyst Phil Swinfen. The Lucara diamond could fetch between $40 million to $60 million or more based on recent sales of large stones the company has found, said Swinfen, a former diamond-mining geologist. Equivalent to $60,087 a carat, Lucara sold a 342-carat type IIa diamond discovered in April for $20.55 million.
“Given this stone is likely to be historically significant, the value could take on a life of its own and achieve significantly more—all flowing straight to Lucara’s bottom line,” Swinfen said.
“This is immensely good news for Lucara, perhaps the best week in the company’s history,” Swinfen added.
Since the diamond is a IIa type diamond, it is of a good-quality and is nearly devoid of impurities. Lucara said that this is the largest type IIa diamond found in more than a century and the biggest dug up by machines. Using Large Diamond Recovery XRT machines, the diamond was recovered from the south lobe of the Karowe Mine.
Lucara is the sole owner and operator of the mine, which produced its first diamond in 2012.
As the rockbed for the world’s biggest individual diamond discoveries in the 21st century, the Karowe Mine joins Gem Diamond Ltd.’s Letseng Mine in Lesotho, the landlocked southern Africa mountaintop kingdom.
The 603-carat Lesotho Promise found in 2006 held the previous record for this century’s largest recovered diamond before Lucara. That gem sold for $12.4 million.
The company plans to sell the largest stone at its own auction along with the the three diamonds found this week, said a spokeswoman for Lucara.
“The stones will attract a lot of attention,” she said.
(Source:www.wsj.com)
This giant sized diamond was found last week at the Karowe Mine in Botswana, said Lucara Diamond Corp., the Vancouver-based company that owns and operates the mine. Officially the second largest diamond is said to be a 1,111-carat gem-quality diamond. The second largest diamond ever dug out was among a cache of huge white diamonds discovered at Karowe last week.
The cache included a 374-carat gem and an 813-carat stone which was the sixth-largest ever found, the company said. One carat is equivalent to one-fifth of a gram.
“I am truly at a loss for words. We are truly blessed by this amazing asset,” said Lucara Chief Executive William Lamb.
Following the diamond discovery the share value of Lucara were up 28% in Toronto. Company sources said that the value of the diamond could run into the tens of millions of dollars.
The largest diamond ever discovered was a 3,106-carat Cullinan stone found in South Africa in 1905. The Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa, both of which are housed in Britain’s crown jewels, were cut from the largest ever diamond that was found.
Botswana, South Africa and Namibia are among the biggest producers of mined diamonds. Australia and Russia also are important suppliers.
Without more details about color or the ways it could be cut it is hard to put a value on a diamond, said Numis Securities analyst Phil Swinfen. The Lucara diamond could fetch between $40 million to $60 million or more based on recent sales of large stones the company has found, said Swinfen, a former diamond-mining geologist. Equivalent to $60,087 a carat, Lucara sold a 342-carat type IIa diamond discovered in April for $20.55 million.
“Given this stone is likely to be historically significant, the value could take on a life of its own and achieve significantly more—all flowing straight to Lucara’s bottom line,” Swinfen said.
“This is immensely good news for Lucara, perhaps the best week in the company’s history,” Swinfen added.
Since the diamond is a IIa type diamond, it is of a good-quality and is nearly devoid of impurities. Lucara said that this is the largest type IIa diamond found in more than a century and the biggest dug up by machines. Using Large Diamond Recovery XRT machines, the diamond was recovered from the south lobe of the Karowe Mine.
Lucara is the sole owner and operator of the mine, which produced its first diamond in 2012.
As the rockbed for the world’s biggest individual diamond discoveries in the 21st century, the Karowe Mine joins Gem Diamond Ltd.’s Letseng Mine in Lesotho, the landlocked southern Africa mountaintop kingdom.
The 603-carat Lesotho Promise found in 2006 held the previous record for this century’s largest recovered diamond before Lucara. That gem sold for $12.4 million.
The company plans to sell the largest stone at its own auction along with the the three diamonds found this week, said a spokeswoman for Lucara.
“The stones will attract a lot of attention,” she said.
(Source:www.wsj.com)
