As part of the sale to purchaser Nemesis International DMCC, Lucara retained a 10% interest in the diamond.
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Lucara Diamond Corp. has sold an 812.77ct diamond for just over US$63 million (£43m), the highest price ever achieved for the sale of a rough diamond.
Both diamonds were recovered from Lucara’s Karowe mine in Botswana, which is gaining a reputation for producing the world’s biggest and best stones.
Sotheby’s has put an estimate of US$70 million-plus on the Lesedi La Rona, whose name the auction house said meant “our light” in Botswana’s Tswana language.
Next month, Lucara will auction off another even larger diamond, this one clocking in at 1,109 carats.
Lamb adds that the 813 carat diamond, called Constellation, is also the sixth-largest gem-quality diamond ever found. But the Constellation, as Lucara is calling it, is unlikely to hold that record for very long. The sale of The Constellation will take place at Sotheby’s in London on June 29.
The biggest diamond discovered is the 3,106-carat Cullinan, found near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905.
The sale of the massive “Constellation” diamond was “the highest price ever achieved for a rough diamond, breaking all records”, CEO William Lamb said in a statement.
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Cullinan was cut into nine polished gems, eight of them set into Britain’s Crown jewels.
