Second Auction for Part-Time Diamond Diggers
January 10, 23
(IDEX Online) - Almost 300 carats recovered by part-time diggers in India's diamond-rich Panna district will again be offered for sale next month, after they failed to find buyers in October.
There was little enthusiasm at the first auction, conducted by the Panna Diamond Office, which leases small patches of land and takes a 11.5 per cent royalty.
The 158 diamonds which failed to sell last time have a total weight of 286.91 carats and are valued at just under $40,000.
The February auction was originally planned for January but was postponed because of cold weather.
Panna, in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, is said to be home to 1.2m carats. Part-time miners pay $2.70 for the rights to dig a 25ft square patch there and diamond finds are quite common.
Last May farmer Pratap Singh Yadav (pictured) recovered an 11.88-carat diamond and said he'd use proceeds from the sale of the stone to set up a business and pay for his children's education.