X-ray expertise used to seek out the two,492-carat stone on the African nation’s Karowe diamond mine.
A 2,492-carat diamond, the world’s second-largest, has been found in Botswana, says the Canadian mining firm that discovered the stone.
The diamond was found on the Karowe diamond mine in northeastern Botswana utilizing X-ray expertise, Lucara Diamond Corp mentioned in a press release on Thursday.
Lucara has not acknowledged the worth of the discover or talked about its high quality, however when it comes to carat weight, the stone is second solely to the three,016-carat Cullinan diamond found in South Africa in 1905.
“We’re delighted with the restoration of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President William Lamb mentioned within the assertion.
Pictures launched by the corporate present the diamond is as massive because the palm of a hand.
The discover was “one of many largest tough diamonds ever unearthed” and was detected utilizing the corporate’s Mega Diamond Restoration X-ray expertise, put in in 2017 to determine and protect massive, high-value diamonds, the assertion mentioned.
Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi noticed the huge stone on Thursday afternoon. His authorities mentioned it was the second largest on the earth.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of 77 Diamonds, Europe’s largest on-line diamond jeweller, confirmed that it’s the largest tough diamond found because the Cullinan Diamond, elements of which adorn the British Crown Jewels.
“This discovery is basically as a result of newer expertise that permits bigger diamonds to be extracted from the bottom with out breaking them into items. So we’re more likely to see extra of the place they got here from,” he mentioned.
Botswana is without doubt one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, its major supply of revenue, as they symbolize 30 p.c of its gross home product and 80 p.c of its exports.
The South African nation final month proposed a legislation that will require mining corporations, as soon as licensed, to promote a 24 p.c stake in mines to native buyers except the federal government workout routines its possibility to accumulate the stake.
Earlier than the discover was introduced Thursday, the biggest diamond ever 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 expertise.
