Current:Home > MarketsThe biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats-DB Wealth Institute B2 Reviews & Ratings
The biggest diamond in over a century is found in Botswana — a whopping 2,492 carats
lotradecoin strategy View Date:2024-12-25 14:42:47
GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The largest diamond found in more than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the country’s president showed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday.
The Botswana government says the huge 2,492-carat diamond is the second-biggest ever discovered in a mine. It’s the biggest diamond found since 1905.
The as-yet-unnamed diamond was presented to the world at the office of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs approximately half a kilogram and Masisi was one of the first to get to hold it.
“It is overwhelming,” Masisi said. “I am lucky to have seen it in my time.” He gasped and said “wow” before calling senior government officials over to take a closer look.
Officials said it was too early to value the stone or decide how it would be sold. Another smaller diamond from the same mine in Botswana was sold for $63 million in 2016, a record for a rough gem.
“This is history in the making,” said Naseem Lahri, Botswana managing director for Lucara Diamond Corp., the Canadian mining company that found the diamond. “I am very proud. It is a product of Botswana.”
Lucara said in a statement Wednesday that it recovered the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in central Botswana. Lucara said it was a “high-quality” stone and was found intact. It was located using X-ray technology designed to find large, high-value diamonds.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said in a statement.
The weight would make it the largest diamond found in 119 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan Diamond that was discovered in South Africa in 1905. The famous Cullinan was 3,106 carats and was cut into gems, some of which form part of the British Crown Jewels.
A bigger, less pure black diamond was discovered in Brazil in the late 1800s, but it was found above ground and was believed to have been part of a meteorite.
Botswana, a country of 2.6 million people in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of natural diamonds behind Russia and has unearthed all of the world’s biggest stones in recent years. The Karowe Mine has produced four other diamonds over 1,000 carats in the last decade.
Before this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was found at the Karowe Mine in 2019, was recognized as the second-biggest mined diamond in the world at 1,758 carats. It was bought 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 bought by a British jeweler for $53 million in 2017. Another diamond from Karowe, The Constellation, was sold for the record $63 million.
Diamonds are formed when carbon atoms are squeezed together under high pressure deep underground. Scientists say most diamonds are at least a billion years old and some of them more than 3 billion years old.
___
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
veryGood! (5828)
Related
- A stowaway groundhog is elevated to local icon
- AP PHOTOS: On Antarctica’s ice and in its seas, penguins in a warming world
- Live updates | Israel says it’s prepared to fight for months to defeat Hamas
- Officials say a US pilot safely ejected before his F-16 crashed into the sea off South Korea
- Demi Lovato opens up about how 'daddy issues' led her to chase child stardom, success
- Russian presidential hopeful vows to champion peace, women and a ‘humane’ country
- Trump says he won’t testify again at his New York fraud trial. He says he has nothing more to say
- Dak Prescott, Brandon Aubrey help Cowboys pull even with Eagles in NFC East with 33-13 victory
- US Army intelligence analyst pleads guilty to selling military secrets to China
- Biden attends shiva for Norman Lear while in Los Angeles for fundraisers
Ranking
- Head of Theodore Roosevelt National Park departs North Dakota job
- Worried your kid might have appendicitis? Try the jump test
- Winding down from a long day's work by playing lottery on her phone, Virginia woman wins big
- U.S. Lawmakers Confer With World Leaders at COP28
- Australian Olympic Committee hits out at criticism of controversial breaker Rachael Gunn
- Supreme Courts in 3 states will hear cases about abortion access this week
- Hilary Duff pays tribute to late 'Lizzie McGuire' producer Stan Rogow: 'A very special person'
- Guyana agreed to talks with Venezuela over territorial dispute under pressure from Brazil, others
Recommendation
-
Las Vegas police could boycott working NFL games over new facial ID policy
-
At COP28, Indigenous women have a message for leaders: Look at what we’re doing. And listen
-
White House OMB director Shalanda Young says it's time to cut a deal on national security
-
Explosions heard in Kyiv in possible air attack; no word on damage or casualties
-
Ryan Reynolds on his 'complicated' relationship with his dad, how it's changed him
-
2 Chainz shares video from ambulance after reportedly being involved in Miami car crash
-
Supreme Courts in 3 states will hear cases about abortion access this week
-
Bronny James ‘very solid’ in college debut for USC as LeBron watches
Tags
-
lotradecoin real-time trading charts
lotradecoin platform updates and news
lotradecoin educational resources for traders
lotradecoin multi-language support
lotradecoin versus kucoin exchange
lotradecoin cross-chain trading solutions
lotradecoin benchmarks
lotradecoin educational resources for traders
lotradecoin withdrawal processing times