Biggest diamond in more than a 100 years found in Botswana

“This historic diamond recovery puts Lucara and the Karow mine among a select number of truly exceptional diamond producers”, said William Lamb, president and CEO of Lucara.

The world’s second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says.

The gem, only second in size to the Cullinan diamond which was unearthered in South Africa in 1905, was mined by Lucara Diamond Corp.

Lucara Diamond, the company that controls the mine in question, reports that the stone weighs in at a frankly staggering 1,111 carats. It was recovered by machines at in the south lobe of Karowe mine in central Botswana, the company said in a statement. Gem Diamonds previously held the record for the largest discovered this century with the 603-carat Lesotho Promise.

Lucara indicated on its website that the Karowe Mine had also this week turned up further finds – an 813 carat stone and a 374 carat stone, prompting Lamb to laud “an incredible week” for the company.

Botswana is the world’s largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.

Lucara sold a 341.9 carat Type-IIa diamond in July for $20.6 million, or $60 000 a carat, Sterck said. “Our focus on mining the south lobe, which is delivering value beyond expectation, has been perfectly timed with the commissioning of our recent plant modifications, enabling the recovery of these large, high-quality exceptional diamonds”. That compares with declines of as much as 30 percent for a few smaller gems. The Cullinan was cut and polished into the two largest diamonds in the British Crown jewels.