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Botswana has discovered a 2,492-carat diamond, the Canadian mining company that found the stone announced on Friday.
The diamond which is the second largest in the world was discovered in the Karowe diamond mine in northeastern Botswana using X-ray detection technology, Lucara Diamond said in a statement.
Lucara did not provide an estimation of the value of the find. In terms of carats, the stone is second only to the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond discovered in South Africa in 1905.
In a statement, Lucara president, William Lamb said, “We are ecstatic about the discovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond.
“This is one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed” and detected using the company’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology installed in 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds."
The managing director of Lucara Botswana, Naseem Lahri, presented the translucent stone, which is the size of a palm, to President Mokgweetsi Masisi at his office.
“I’m told this is the largest diamond to be discovered in Botswana to date and the second in the world,” Masisi said, congratulating the company on the find. “This is precious.”
Botswana is one of the world’s largest producers of diamonds, which are its main source of income, accounting for 30 per cent of GDP and 80 per cent of its exports, according to International Monetary Fund figures.
Diamonds were discovered a year later, and today the country is the world’s largest producer by value, the IMF said.
