A massive diamond, one of the largest ever discovered, has been unearthed and will be unveiled on Thursday. The Botswana government claims the colossal 2,492-carat stone is the second largest ever extracted from a mine. In a statement released Wednesday, Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond Corp announced the recovery of the “exceptional” rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in Botswana. Lucara described the stone as “high-quality” and said it was found intact using X-ray technology.
The newly discovered diamond will be unveiled at the office of Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi, where he will be among the first to see it, the Botswanan government announced.
“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara president and CEO William Lamb said. The diamond is the largest ever found in Botswana, a country that is the world’s second-largest diamond producer and has recently unearthed some of the biggest stones globally. The Karowe Mine, which yielded this latest find, has previously produced four diamonds over 1,000 carats.
Vuitton, Graff and the Karowe Mine
Prior to this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, also from the Karowe Mine, held the title of the second-largest diamond at 1,758 carats. It was acquired by French fashion house Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed sum in 2019.
Two years prior the 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, also second largest at the time, was unearthed at the Karowe Mine. It was bought by British jeweler Graff for 53 million dollars in 2017.
The Lesedi La Rona was cut into a 302.37 carat polished diamond, the world’s largest square emerald cut, and the largest modern diamond with high color and clarity.
