The biggest gem quality diamond discovered for over a century has been unearthed by Lucara Diamond Corporation at their Karowe mine in Botswana.
The 1,111ct diamond, which is the approximate size of a tennis ball, is second only to the 3,601ct Cullinan diamond. The Cullinan was discovered in Pretoria in 1906 and cut by hand into 9 large stones and 96 smaller ones, the two largest of which were set into the Crown Jewels.
This rough diamond has yet to be analysed but it will likely be bought by a high profile jeweller such as Lawrence Graff or a group of specialist diamond investors and cut and set into several pieces of jewellery once the maximum yield of the stone has been calculated by laser mapping technology.
The previous record for a diamond discovered this century was held by London based Gem Diamonds who discovered the 603ct Lesotho Promise at their Letseng mine in 2006.
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