“This has been an incredible week for Lucara with the recovery of the second largest and also the sixth largest gem quality diamonds ever mined”, Mr Lamb said.
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But the 1,111-carat discovery “puts Lucara and the Karowe mine amongst a select number of truly exceptional diamond producers”, boasted president/CEO William Lamb.
The Type IIa diamond measures 65 millimetres by 56mm by 40mm.
It was retrieved via a newly installed Large Diamond Recovery XRT machine at Lucara’s Karowe mine.
Canadian miner Lucara Diamond (TSE:LUC) has discovered the second biggest diamond in history. You’re looking at the biggest diamond to be found in the last 100 years, which was discovered in a mine in north-central Botswana.
Numis Securities said: “We can’t overstate the significance of this find as diamonds of this size and quality are exceptionally rare”.
Botswana is the world’s largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.
So far, the largest diamonds are resisting the price slump that has hit the wider industry.
“Our focus on mining the south lobe, which is delivering value beyond expectation, has been perfectly timed with the commissioning of our recent plant modifications, enabling the recovery of these large, high quality exceptional diamonds”. That compares with declines of as much as 30 percent for a few smaller gems.
It was cut into several polished gems to form the Great Star of Africa and Lesser Star of Africa.
The largest diamond ever recovered, the 3,106ct Cullinan stone, was found in 1905 in South Africa.
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Lucara also said it found two white diamonds, weighing 813 carats and 374 carats before cleaning at the same mine.
