The largest diamond in over a century found in Botswana – it weighs 2,492 carats

GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The largest diamond found in greater than a century has been discovered in a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed the world the fist-sized stone at a ceremony Thursday.

The Botswana government says the huge 2,492-carat diamond is the second-largest ever discovered on the mine. It is the largest diamond found since 1905.

The yet-to-be-named diamond was unveiled to the world in the office of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs about half a kilogram, and Masisi was one among the primary to carry it.

“It’s overwhelming,” Masisi said. “I’m lucky I got to see it in my time.” He caught his breath and said, “Wow,” before calling on senior government officials to take a closer look.

Officials said it was too early to value the stone or resolve how it could be sold. Another smaller diamond from the identical mine in Botswana sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem.

“This is history in the making,” said Naseem Lahri, CEO of Lucara Diamond Corp., the Canadian mining company that found the diamond in Botswana. “I’m very proud. It’s a product of Botswana.”

Lucara said in a statement Wednesday that it had recovered an “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe mine in central Botswana. Lucara said it was a “high-quality” stone and was found intact. It was situated using X-ray technology designed to seek out large, precious diamonds.

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“We are delighted with the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” William Lamb, president and CEO of Lucara, said in a statement.

Its weight makes it the largest diamond found in 119 years and the second largest diamond ever recovered from a mine, after the Cullinan diamond discovered in South Africa in 1905. The famous Cullinan weighed 3,106 carats and was cut into gemstones, a few of which form a part of the British Crown Jewels.

In the late nineteenth century, a larger, less pure black diamond was discovered in Brazil, but it was found above ground and was considered a part of a meteorite.

Botswana, a country of two.6 million people in southern Africa, is the world’s second-largest producer of natural diamonds after Russia and has produced the entire world’s largest stones in recent years. The Karowe mine has produced 4 other diamonds weighing greater than 1,000 carats in the past decade.

Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found on the Karowe mine in 2019, was believed to be the second largest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. It was purchased by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed sum.

The 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also from the Karowe mine in Botswana, was bought by a British jeweler for $53 million in 2017. Another diamond from Karowe, The Constellation, sold for a record $63 million.

Diamonds are formed when carbon atoms are squeezed together under high pressure deep underground. Scientists say most diamonds are a minimum of a billion years old, with some dating back greater than 3 billion years.