A mine in Botswana has unearthed the largest diamond in more than a century, and the country’s president unveiled the fist-sized piece to the world in a public ceremony on Thursday.
The Botswana government says the massive 2,492-carat diamond is the second-largest ever found in a mine.
This is the largest diamond discovered since 1905.
The yet-to-be-named diamond was unveiled to the world in the office of Botswana’s President Mokgwetsi Masisi.
It weighs about 500 grams, and Masisi was one of the first to get it.
“It’s mind-blowing,” Masisi said. “I’m lucky to be alive to see this.” He gasped and said “wow,” before calling over government officials to get a closer look.
Officials said it was too early to determine the value of the stones or how they might be sold.
Another small diamond from the same mine in Botswana sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough diamond.
“This is history,” said Naseem Lalli, Botswana managing director for Lucara Diamonds, the Canadian mining company that found the diamond. “We’re very proud. This is a Botswana product.”
Lucara said in a statement on Wednesday that it had recovered an “exceptional” diamond from its Karowe mine in central Botswana.
Lucara said the stone was “high quality” and found intact using X-ray technology designed to find large, expensive diamonds.
“We are thrilled with the recovery of this incredible 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara president and CEO William Lamb said in a statement.
This 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 precious stones, some of which are part of the British Crown Jewels.
Larger, less pure black diamonds were discovered in Brazil in the late 1800s, but they were found on land and were thought to have been part of a meteorite.
Botswana, a southern African country with a population of 2.6 million, is the second largest producer of natural diamonds after Russia, and in recent years has unearthed all of the world’s largest rough diamonds.
The Karowe mine has produced four additional diamonds over 1,000 carats in the past decade.
Prior to this discovery, the Sewero diamond, discovered at the Karowe mine in 2019, was recognised as the second largest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats.
It was purchased by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed amount.
The 1,111 carat Lesedi la Rona diamond, also from Botswana’s Karowe mine, was purchased by a British jeweller for $53 million in 2017.
Another diamond from Karowe, “The Constellation,” sold for a record $63 million.
Diamonds are formed deep within the earth when carbon atoms are compressed under high pressure.
Scientists say most of the diamonds are at least one billion years old, with some even dating back more than three billion years.
