History's Second Largest Diamond Found

Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said the 1,111-carat diamond workers found Monday at the company’s Karowe Mine is “slightly smaller than a tennis ball.” This picture provided by Lucara shows how big the diamond is when compared to a loupe. The 1,111-carat Type IIa diamond is the second-largest gem-quality diamond ever found. Only the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in January 1905 at the Premier mine in South Africa and later cleaved by Joseph Asscher, is bigger.

Workers recovered the stone in the mine’s south lobe, an area that has produced three 300-carat-plus rough diamonds this year (including a 342-carat stone that Lucara sold in July for $20.5 million). As to estimating the value of this amazing stone Lucara Diamond Corp. President and CEO William Lamb saidthat is is “almost impossible” to estimate a sale price for the stone, or what it could yield in terms of polished diamonds.

Botswana mine yields 342-carat diamond

Lucara Diamond Corp. announced this week the discovery of a 341.9-carat gem-quality diamond at its Karowe Mine in Botswana, the same mine that yielded two 200-carat-plus pieces of rough last year. 
The diamond is a Type IIa that shows “exceptional color and clarity”. It will be sold along with two other big pieces of rough, both of which are more than 100 carats. The sale date has yet to be determined.
The diamond was found while processing fragmental kimberlite from the central and south lobe interface of the mine, which is proving, somewhat surprisingly, to be a prolific source of high-quality, large rough diamonds.

Kathleen Marino M.A, G.G., AJP, NAJA