World’s second largest diamond with 2,492-carat discovered in Botswana

Al Jazeera quoted Lucara President William Lamb, who said, “We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond.”

Lamb added, “The ability to recover such a massive, high-quality stone intact demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to diamond recovery and our commitment to maximizing value for our shareholders and stakeholders.”

Pictures which have been released by the company show that the 2,492 carat stone is as big as a palm of a hand.

Although the diamond is yet to be assessed thoroughly and hence it is still doubtful whether it will produce high quality gems.

The newly discovered gem remains far behind the world’s largest diamond, 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, which was discovered in South Africa about 120 years ago.

Botswana is one of the largest producers of diamond, and its 30 percent gross domestic product and 80 percent of exports depend on the gem.

The country earlier unearthed another diamond which was 1,758-carat Sewelo in Karowe mine but it did not produce quality diamonds, reported Bloomberg.

The managing director of Europe’s largest online diamond jeweller, 77 Diamonds, Tobias Kormind confirmed the discovery of the second largest diamond discovered till date after Cullinan diamond, according to Al Jazeera.

Kormind further said, “This discovery is largely thanks to newer technology that allows larger diamonds to be extracted from the ground without breaking into pieces. So we will likely see more where this came from,” as quoted by Al Jazeera.