A Canadian company has recovered a 1,111 carat diamond in Botswana.
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Two other huge rough diamonds were found in 2013, at the Karowe mine, both coming in at over 200 carats each (1.4 oz) – still dwarfed by the recent discovery. Still, mining analyst Kieron Hodgson says it has “the potential to be one very expensive diamond”. Gem Diamonds previously held the record for the largest discovered this century with the 603-carat Lesotho Promise.
18, the company announced that it was able to unearth the historic tennis-ball-size gem from the south area of the company’s Karowe Mine in Botswana.
He added that the importance of discovering a gem with a stone quality of more than 1,000 carats, which is the largest ever in more than 100 years, is something that can not be amplified. It is second in size only to the Cullinan diamond, a 3,000 carat diamond that was eventually cut into the British Crown Jewels.
The diamond came from the Karowe Mine in Botswana. The “magnificent” stone was recovered using the company’s newly-installed Large Diamond Recovery XRT machines.
One of the most famous diamonds in existence, the Cullinan Diamond which was cut into nine pieces, one of which – the 530.2 carat Star of Africa – sits in the Crown Jewels collection. In this extremely hot part of the Earth, high pressure and temperature combine to form diamond crystals.
Diamonds that measure over 100 carats are a rarity, which may be why the firm is not so keen on selling the diamonds just yet, according to CBC News.
That said, Swinfen also pointed out that it’s tough to value the diamond without more details on its color and how it could be cut.
Both Mothae and Karowe are large scale assets with tonnage and production that consistently includes large Type IIA stones.
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Lucara’s diamond still has no name as of late, but it could be regarded as the company’s savior since it wiped out all of the losses of the company in an instant.
