image: record diamond – Lucara Diamond
Lucara Diamond has dug up a record diamond of 1,758 carats in its Karowe mine in Botswana. This record diamond is considered to be the second largest rough stone ever found.
The stone, described as larger than a tennis ball, even overshadows the 1,109 carat heavy Lesedi La Rona, found in 2015, which until last week bore the title of the second largest rough stone ever.
The only recorded even greater discovery is the Cullinan of 3,106 carats, mined in South Africa in 1905.
Unlike the Lesedi and Cullinan, both of which achieved the best color and high purity, this new discovery was labeled as “variable quality“, although it also includes “high quality white areas.” This record diamond is subjected to a more detailed analysis.
If the discovery of large diamonds has been slightly more frequent lately, it is because technology has made it easier to determine their location. In the past, the business model of mining companies generally required them to crush their production and only then sort their extractions. But since 2015, Lucara has been using x-ray technology to improve extraction. As a result, 12 diamonds of more than 300 carats were mined at Karowe, including the two record stones of more than 1,000 carats.
The new stone weighs almost 352 grams and measures 83 mm x 62 mm x 46 mm. The company did not estimate its potential value and did not announce how it was expected that the stone would be sold. The company tried to sell the Lesedi through Sotheby’s, a rare auction for a rough stone. But that failed then.
In 2017, Graff Diamonds paid $ 50 million for the purchase of the uncut Lesedi, which means “our light” in Tswana, the native language of Botswana. The stone was named after a national competition. Earlier this month, Graff Diamonds unveiled the 302.37 carat Graff Lesedi La Rona, the largest cut stone produced from the original stone, which also produced 66 more.
