X-ray know-how used to seek out the two,492-carat stone within the African nation’s Karowe Diamond Mine.
A 2,492-carat diamond – the second largest on the earth – has been found in Botswana, says the Canadian mining firm that discovered the stone.
The diamond was found within the Karowe Diamond Mine in northeastern Botswana utilizing X-ray know-how, Lucara Diamond Corp mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.
Lucara didn’t give a worth for the discover or point out its high quality. However by way of carats, the stone is second solely to the three,016-carat Cullinan Diamond found in South Africa in 1905.
“We’re ecstatic concerning the restoration of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President William Lamb mentioned within the assertion.
Photos launched by the corporate present the diamond is as massive because the palm of a hand.
This discover was “one of many largest tough diamonds ever unearthed” and was detected utilizing the corporate’s Mega Diamond Restoration X-ray know-how put in in 2017 to establish and protect massive, high-value diamonds, the assertion mentioned.
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi was proven the huge stone afterward Thursday. His authorities mentioned it was the second greatest on the earth.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of Europe’s largest on-line diamond jeweller, 77 Diamonds, confirmed it was the biggest tough diamond to be unearthed for the reason that Cullinan Diamond, elements of which adorn Britain’s crown jewels.
“This discovery is essentially due to newer know-how that permits bigger diamonds to be extracted from the bottom with out breaking into items. So we’ll seemingly see extra the place this got here from,” he mentioned.
Botswana is likely one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, its most important supply of earnings, accounting for 30 p.c of its gross home product and 80 p.c of its exports.
The Southern African nation final month proposed a regulation that might ask mining corporations, as soon as granted a licence, to promote a 24-percent stake in mines to native traders until the federal government workout routines its possibility to accumulate the shareholding.
Earlier than the discover was introduced on Thursday, the biggest diamond found in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone mined by Lucara on the Karowe mine in 2019 and named Sewelo.
Lucara discovered a 1,174-carat diamond in Botswana in 2021 utilizing the identical X-ray know-how.
