In late August, the Lucara Diamond company announced the discovery of the largest diamond found in over 100 years. The 2,492-carat stone came out of the company’s Karowe Mine in northeast Botswana, and is the second largest diamond ever found.
Diamonds, which are mined from underground, are valuable because they are rare. Once they have been cut and polished, they are often used in expensive jewelry. Diamonds are weighed in carats. A carat equals 0.2 grams – about as much as a small paperclip. At 2,492 carats, the new diamond weighs just over a pound (about half a kilogram).
The diamond is big enough to fill an adult’s hand, as Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi learned, when he held it up to show it off. Mr. Masisi was very impressed. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time,” he said.
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In late August, the Lucara Diamond company announced the discovery of the largest diamond found in over 100 years. The diamond is big enough to fill an adult’s hand, as Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi learned, when he held it up to show it off. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time,” he said.
Though the diamond is large, its value is not yet known. It could be worth tens of millions of dollars. But it may take months for experts to decide on its actual value.
The largest diamond ever discovered is the Cullinan Diamond. It was found in 1905 and weighed 3,106 carats (1.37 pounds, 0.62 kilograms). It was so large that it wound up being cut into nine large pieces and almost 100 smaller pieces. Some Cullinan Diamond pieces are part of the British crown jewels.
The new diamond is still “rough”, meaning that it hasn’t been cut or polished yet. The diamond will probably be cut into smaller pieces. This is often done with large diamonds. The smaller diamonds can then be sold to jewelry companies.
(Source: CNW Group/Lucara Diamond Corp..)
Lucara has found several large diamonds in its Karowe mine. In 2015, it found a diamond that weighed 1,109 carats. In 2019, it uncovered a black diamond that weighed 1,758 carats.
Lucara believes that the new methods it uses to mine diamonds allow it to find larger diamonds than before. “A diamond is hard and you can’t scratch it,” says William Lamb, who runs Lucara. “But it’s actually very easy to break.”
Since 2017, the company has used x-ray technology to look for large diamonds in the rock before it starts mining. Once the company knows where a large diamond may be, it can use a special grinding process to uncover the diamond without breaking it.
(Source: CNW Group/Lucara Diamond Corp..)
In recent years, the natural diamond business has been having a hard time. More and more man-made diamonds are being created. These diamonds are cheaper than natural diamonds, and can also be clearer and bigger. There are now 10 times as many lab-created diamonds available as there were just six years ago.
That’s bad news for a country like Botswana, which counts on the money it gets from its diamonds. Botswana is the second-largest source of diamonds in the world, after Russia. About 20% of the world’s diamonds come from Botswana.
So the discovery of the huge natural diamond was great news for the country. And there may be more news like it in Botswana’s future. Mr. Lamb says the company hopes to find a diamond larger than the Cullinan.