Another Huge Recovery in Botswana - a 1,174-ct Diamond
June 23, 21
(IDEX Online) - A huge 1,174-carat diamond has been recovered in Botswana - just days after the announcement of a 1,098-carat stone.
The newly-discovered stone (pictured), from Lucara's Karowe mine, is a clivage gem, which will need to be split before being processed further.
It weighs 1,174.76 carat, but could well have been part of an even bigger rough stone - of more than 2,000 carats.
"On the same production day, several other diamonds of similar appearance (471 carat, 218 carat, 159 carat) were recovered at the main XRT circuit, indicating the 1,174 diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of > 2000 carats," said the company in a statement.
It's described as a clivage gem measuring 77x55x33mm, of variable quality with significant domains of high-quality white gem material.
Only last week Debswana announced the recovery of 1,098-carat diamond - believed to be third largest in the world - at its Jwaneng mine, also in Botswana.
The world's biggest diamond is the 3,106-carat Cullinan found in South Africa in 1905 and used in the British Crown Jewels, followed by the 1,758-carat Sewelo diamond, also from Karowe, which was recovered in April 2019.
Another +1,000-ct stone, the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, was also recovered from Karowe.
Eira Thomas, CEO, said Lucara was delighted to be reporting another historic diamond recovery.
He said: "Although complex, these diamond recoveries do contain large domains of top colour white gem that will be transformed through our partnership with HB Antwerp into valuable collections of top colour polished diamonds, very much in high demand in the market today."