Yet another massive rough diamond has been found in an increasingly rich mine in Botswana by the Canadian firm Lucara Diamonds.
The news came from the company via an announcement late Sunday night that it had discovered an “extraordinary” 1,094-carat rough diamond from its Karowe Mine in Botswana.
Lucara said this stone bears strong similarities to the 692-carat diamond found in August 2023, which yielded polished diamonds that sold for more than US$13 million.
The 1,094-carat diamond is the sixth stone in excess of 1,000 carats recovered by Lucara. The largest was revealed late last month – the second-largest diamond ever found – a rough 2,492-carat stone. The previous largest discovery in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone found at the same mine in 2019.
It was the biggest find since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.
Botswana’s government stated that it was the largest diamond ever discovered in the southern African state.
“The recovery of this exceptional 1,094-carat diamond is a testament to Karowe’s remarkable potential and further validates our investment in the underground expansion project,” Lucara CEO William Lamb said in Sunday’s statement.
“As we progress with our underground development, we’re increasingly confident in Karowe’s capacity to produce these legendary diamonds well into the future, cementing our position in the high-end diamond market.”
Lucara’s shares jumped more than 6% on Monday, lifting the market value to around C$216 million (around A$235 million) and are up 14% year-to-date.