Largest Diamond Found in Botswana, Miners in Botswana have recently uncovered what officials claim is the second largest diamond ever found. The country’s president, Mokgweetsi Masisi, showcased the massive stone at a ceremony last week.
Weighing 2,492 carats, this gem is the largest diamond ever found since 1905, approximately half a kilogram. Masisi was among the first to hold it, expressing astonishment at its weight and stating, “I am fortunate to witness it in my lifetime.”
Lucara Diamond, a Canadian mining company, found the stone. Company officials said it was too early to value the gem or decide how it would be sold. A smaller uncut diamond from the same mine in Botswana sold for a record $63 million in 2016.
Naseem Lahri is a director with Lucara’s Botswana team. “This is history in the making,” she said of the new find. “I am very proud. It is a product of Botswana.”
Lucara said in a statement last week that the company recovered what it called an “exceptional” diamond from Karowe Mine in central Botswana. Company miners used X-ray technology that is designed to find large, high-value diamonds.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President and chief William Lamb said in a statement.
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years.
It also is the second-largest diamond ever mined, after the Cullinan Diamond. That 3,106-carat stone was unearthed in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was the source of several famous cut gems, including some among the British Crown Jewels.
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of natural diamonds behind Russia.
The Karowe Mine has produced four other diamonds over 1,000 carats in the last decade.
Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe Mine in 2019, was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. French fashion business Louis Vuitton bought the diamond. The sale price was not publicized.
A British jeweler bought the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from Botswana’s Karowe Mine, for $53 million in 2017. A Karowe diamond named The Constellation is the holder of the record $63 million sales price.
What was the first-largest diamond ever found?
The first-largest diamond ever found is the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905. It weighed an astonishing 3,106 carats, making it the largest gem-quality diamond ever recorded. The Cullinan Diamond was eventually cut into several smaller gems, with the two largest pieces becoming part of the British Crown Jewels: the Great Star of Africa (Cullinan I), which is set in the Sovereign’s Sceptre, and the Lesser Star of Africa (Cullinan II), set in the Imperial State Crown.
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