Editor’s Note
This article reports on the discovery of a historic 1,111-carat diamond rough in Botswana, the largest find of its kind this century and a significant event for the global gem industry.
The largest diamond rough of the century has been mined in Botswana, a country in southern Africa.
Canadian diamond mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. has discovered a diamond rough that can be processed into a 1111-carat gemstone, Bloomberg reported on the 19th (local time). In terms of cut diamonds, it is the second largest after the ‘Cullinan Diamond’ attached to the British royal scepter.
According to Lucara, this rough, slightly smaller than a tennis ball, is the largest diamond discovered in the past 100 years. The rough was mined by machinery at the Karowe mine in central Botswana.
Lucara’s CEO William Lamb said during a conference call with investors that day, unable to hide his excitement.
Lucara’s Karowe mine is famous, along with the Letšeng mine operated by diamond mining company Gem Diamonds in Lesotho, a small country within South Africa, for producing some of the world’s largest and highest quality rough diamonds. Until now, the largest diamond discovered in this century was the 603-carat ‘Lesotho Promise’ found by Gem Diamonds.
In a note on the 19th, Edward Sterck, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, pointed out regarding the diamond unearthed by Lucara,
Lucara sold a 341.9-carat diamond for $20.6 million in July, or about $60,000 per carat.
Lucara’s stock price surged as much as 37% on the Toronto Stock Exchange that day, marking its largest intraday gain since 2008.
Bloomberg explained that the value of this diamond discovery and who might wish to purchase it depends on the size and quality of the cuttable polished diamond. The news agency predicted that Lucara is likely to sell the rough through a tender in Botswana, and the process of cutting, polishing, and final sale could take several years.
The rough will undergo cutting work in Antwerp, northern Belgium, and New York, USA.
Meanwhile, the world’s largest diamond, the 3106-carat Cullinan, was discovered in 1905 near Pretoria, South Africa. The cut diamonds were named ‘the Great Star of Africa’ and ‘the Lesser Star of Africa’.