A 910 carat diamond was found in the small Southern Africa nation of Lesotho, the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever found, diamond miner Gem Diamonds Limited said in a statement on Monday.
“Gem Diamonds Limited is pleased to announce the recovery of an exceptional quality 910 carat, D colour Type IIa diamond from the Letseng mine in Lesotho.
“The diamond, the largest recovered from Letseng, is believed to be the fifth largest gem quality diamond ever recovered,” the company said.
Lesotho is a small, impoverished country surrounded entirely by South Africa.
A rough diamond from Botswana, believed to be the biggest uncut diamond found in a century, sold for 53 million dollars in September.
NAN reports that in November 2015,the world’s second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says.
The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone.
It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century.
The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.
“The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century… cannot be overstated,” William Lamb, the CEO of Lucara Diamond, a Canadian diamond producer,
Lucara says two other “exceptional” white diamonds – an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat stone – were also found at the Karowe mine.
“This has been an amazing week for Lucara with the recovery of the second largest and also the sixth largest gem quality diamonds ever mined,” Lamb said.
The stone is yet to be evaluated, but commodities and mining analyst Kieron Hodgson, told AFP news agency that “the potential to be one very expensive diamond.”
