Last updated on August 25th, 2024 at 05:23 pm
Renowned for its abundance of diamonds, Botswana has once more made news with the finding of a massive 2,492-carat diamond, the second-largest jewel discovered in more than a century. Presented to the world at a special viewing event under President Mokgweetsi Masisi, the over half-kg diamond weighed.
Clearly affected by the sight of the fist-sized stone, President Masisi emphasized the great value of diamonds to the country and said, “They mean everything to us in good times and bad.” One among the first to possess the yet-to-be-named diamond, the president gasped in wonder and asked top government officials to get a closer look.
Recoverable from the Karowe Mine in central Botswana, the large diamond was discovered by Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp. Managing director for Lucara in Botswana Naseem Lahri attributed the discovery to modern technology applied at the mine, notably X-ray transmission (XRT), which has transformed diamond recovery techniques. “We’re so proud of this because of the technology we use, which is XRT; this helps us to recover this diamond,” Lahri said.
William Lamb, Lucara’s President and CEO, said, “We are ecstatic about the recovery of this outstanding 2,492-carat diamond.” Lucara claims that the diamond is the biggest stone ever found via a processing plant.
This find at the Karowe Mine adds to Botswana’s already outstanding track record of producing big diamonds. Found in 2019 at the same mine, the Sewelo diamond—which weighs 1,758 carats—was identified as the second-largest mined diamond prior this. Later on, French fashion company Louis Vuitton paid an unknown price for the Sewelo. Karowe also produced other noteworthy discoveries including The Constellation, which sold for record $63 million in 2016, and the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, sold for $53 million in 2017.
Now ranking just behind the well-known Cullinan Diamond, a 3,106-carat jewel unearthed in South Africa in 1905, subsequently cut into many stones some of which are part of the British Crown Jewels, is the newly discovered diamond.
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Second-largest natural diamond producer worldwide, Botswana boasts 2.6 million citizens and follows Russia. The nation’s reputation as a worldwide leader in diamond output is reinforced by its regular discovery of some of the biggest stones found anywhere in recent years.
Although the worth of this most recent discovery cannot be emphasized yet it is still too early to attribute any. The ultimate sale of the diamond could possibly surpass past records, therefore confirming Botswana’s strength in the diamond sector.
