A 2,492-carat diamond – the second largest in the world – has been discovered in Botswana, says the Canadian mining company that found the stone.
The diamond was discovered in the Karowe Diamond Mine in northeastern Botswana using X-ray technology, Lucara Diamond Corp said in a statement on Thursday.
But in terms of carats, the stone is second only to the 3,016-carat Cullinan Diamond discovered in South Africa in 1905.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President William Lamb said in the statement.
This find was “one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed” and was detected using the company’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds, the statement said.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of Europe’s largest online diamond jeweller, 77 Diamonds, confirmed it was the largest rough diamond to be unearthed since the Cullinan Diamond, parts of which adorn Britain’s crown jewels.
Botswana is one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, its main source of income, accounting for 30 percent of its gross domestic product and 80 percent of its exports.
Before the find was announced on Thursday, the largest diamond discovered in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone mined by Lucara at the Karowe mine in 2019 and named Sewelo.
According to the mining company based in Canada, a 2,492-carat diamond, which is the second largest in the world, has been found in Botswana.
According to a statement released by Lucara Diamond Corp on Thursday, the diamond was found using X-ray technology in the Karowe Diamond Mine in northeastern Botswana.
Lucara did not specify the find’s quality or assign a value. However, the stone is only second in carat weight to the 3,016-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was found in South Africa in 1905.
President of Lucara William Lamb said in the statement, “We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond.”.
The diamond is as big as a hand, according to company photos.
The company’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology, which was installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds, was used to detect this find, which was described as “one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed,” the statement said.
Later on Thursday, the enormous stone was shown to Mokgweetsi Masisi, the president of Botswana. According to his government, it’s the second largest in the world.
It was verified by Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, the biggest online diamond retailer in Europe, that the found rough diamond was the biggest since the Cullinan Diamond, pieces of which are displayed in the crown jewels of the United Kingdom.
The ability to extract larger diamonds from the ground without them shattering is made possible by more advanced technology, which is primarily responsible for this discovery. So it’s likely that we’ll see more of where this originated,” he stated.
As the primary source of income for 30% of its GDP and 80% of its exports, diamonds are produced in Botswana, one of the world’s largest diamond producing nations.
The country in Southern Africa put forth a bill last month that would require mining companies to sell local investors a 24 percent share in their mines after they are granted a license, unless the government chooses to purchase the shareholding.
The biggest diamond found in Botswana prior to its announcement on Thursday was a 1,758-carat stone called Sewelo that Lucara had extracted from the Karowe mine in 2019.
