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472-Carat Diamond Found in Botswana
It’s the third-largest diamond yielded by Karowe, the mine that also produced the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona.
The Karowe diamond mine in Botswana just produced this 472-carat “top light brown” rough diamond. It’s the third-largest diamond ever found at the mine.
Vancouver, British Columbia--Lucara Diamond Corp. announced Thursday that the Karowe diamond mine in Botswana has yielded another big stone, this one weighing 472 carats.
The diamond, described as a “top light brown” stone, is the third largest diamond ever recovered from Karowe, which also yielded the 1,109-carat diamond dubbed the “Lesedi La Rona,” which was purchased by Graff Diamonds in September for $53 million.
The second-largest diamond ever found at Karowe was the 812.77-carat “Constellation” diamond, which was discovered just a few days after the Lesedi La Rona in the fall of 2015. The Constellation sold in May 2016 for $63 million.
Lucara CEO Eira Thomas said that this year the company is focused on mining at the high-value south lobe, which is known as a consistent source of diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats.
In Q1 2018, Lucara reported that it recovered 218 “specials” (diamonds that are more than 10.8 carats), including four diamonds greater than 100 carats.
The 472-carat diamond will be sold alongside other exceptional stones at a tender set to take place later this year, Thomas said.
A co-founder of Lucara, Thomas took over as CEO in February, when William Lamb retired and stepped down from the board of directors.
That same month, the company announced the acquisition of Clara, a digital rough diamond sales platform that combines proprietary analytics with cloud and blockchain technologies.
Lucara said it is on schedule to begin applying the technology to diamonds from Karowe in August.
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