Second Largest Diamond Discovered After More Than A Century In Botswana

A 1,111 gem quality diamond considered to be second in size to the Cullinan diamond has been discovered almost after a whole century in Botswana by Lucara Diamonds Ltd.

A type-IIa stone which is smaller than a small tennis ball in size is being considered the largest ever diamond found after more than a 100 years according to Lucara Diamond Corporation. It was recovered by company machines on the South of Karowe mine in Central Botswana, the company revealed in a statement, as reported by Bloomberg Business.

 "The significance of recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century and continued recovery of high-quality stones from the south lobe cannot be overstated," said William Lamb.

Lucara's Karowe quarry in Botswana will be rivalling Gem Diamonds Ltd's Letseng mine in Lesotho as a method to discover world's biggest, best and finest of the gemstones. Previously, Gem Diamonds had the record for discovering the largest gemstone found for this century which was around 603 carats.

"It is almost impossible to estimate a value for such an extraordinary stone given that a valuation is highly dependent on the colour, clarity and cutting and polishing characteristics," Edward Sterck, a London-based analyst at BMO Capital Marketers expressed his views.

Reportedly in July, Lucara sold a 341.9 carat diamond in July this year worth $20.6 million or $60,000 per carat, Edward Sterck further elaborated.

While talking about the Lucara Diamond Corps after this enormous discovery of high gem quality diamond, William Lamb said, "This historic diamond recovery puts Lucara and the Karowe mine amongst a selective number of truly exceptional diamond producers."

Currently, the largest diamond producer in the world is Botswana and this speciality has transformed Botswana into a middle-income nation too.

Lucara also revealed that along with the discovery of the biggest ever diamond of this history, two other very fine white diamonds, one an 813 carats and the other a 374 carat diamonds were also found from the same Karowe mine.

A Lucara spokesmen revealed the companies all possible lookouts to sell all the three discovered diamonds including selling the largest one discovered in this century in their own auction, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

"The stones will attract a lot of attention from existing buyers and new buyers yet to be identified," she said.

Diamond production worldwide is assumed to be at its top in around 2017, when according to reports 164 carats of diamonds worldwide will be produced as MicKensy & Co. claims. After that peak of diamond production, it will have to face a drop unless major new discoveries are made, MicKensy & Co. reports revealed.