The enormous 46.7 carat pink rough diamond recovered at the Lulo Diamond Project in Angola earlier this year has been cut and polished into three diamonds, the largest of which is a Fancy Intense Orangy Pink heart-shape.
Finishing at 15.20 carats, the exceptional gemstone has a clarity grade of VVS1 and top craftsmanship grades of Excellent in both polish and symmetry.
Planned and polished in Antwerp, Belgium the 15.20 carat heart has two siblings: Pear-shaped diamonds weighing 3.30 carats and 2.30 carats apiece. The rough diamond was recovered by Lucapa Diamond Company and its Lulo partners Empresa Nacional de Diamantes and Rosas & Petalas, in March and sold into a cutting and polishing partnership with Safdico International Limited.
Improvements in Angola
An alluvial project, Lucapa and its Project Lulo partners have enjoyed positive results from their search to discover the primary hard-rock source of the high-value Lulo alluvial diamonds. The 46 carat pink rough diamond is the largest recovered to date from the project, which began production in 2015. Last year the Angolan government enacted new marketing regulations, allowing miners the ability to sell diamonds into alternate value channels and partnerships to attract additional value over mine gate sales.
According to Lucapa Managing Director Stephen Wetherall:
The recent enactment of the Angolan diamond marketing regulations is having the desired effect. Pink colored diamonds are rare and constitute less than 0.1% of global diamond production. With the recent closure of the renowned Argyle underground mine in Australia, which produced about 90% of the world’s natural pink diamonds, these diamonds are about to become even more scarce. This bodes well for the sale of the 15.2 carat polished pink diamond and other diamonds derived from this unique value accretive polishing partnership.
Keeping our eye on Pink
With the closing of Australia’s famous Argyle Diamond mine in November, diamond enthusiasts are keeping alert for new sources of rare pink diamonds. Argyle had produced nearly 90% of the world’s pinks since 1983.
Read about the closure in our prior post: The Argyle mine closes. Goodbye, Dear Friend.
