World's second-largest diamond found in Botswana

By Hassan Isilow and Burak Bir

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - The second-largest diamond in history has been discovered in Botswana, in Southern Africa, a mining company said on Friday.

Canadian-based mine owners Lucara Diamond said the unbroken 1,758-carat stone was unearthed through the state-of-the-art XRT circuit technology commissioned in Botswana in 2015.

The uncut diamond weighs close to 352 grams and is the size of a tennis ball. The company describes it as near gem of variable quality, including domains of high-quality white gem.

“Since commissioning of the XRT circuit in 2015, a total of 12 diamonds in excess of 300 carats have been recovered at Karowe, including 2 greater than 1,000 carats, from a total production of approximately 1.4 million carats,” said Lucara Diamond, which owns 100% shares at the Botswana-based Karowe mine, where the diamond was found.

Botswana is well known for producing large diamonds. Four years ago, another unbroken diamond of 1,109 carats called Lesedi La Rona was unearthed at Karowe mine. It was known to be the second largest in the world at the time.

The gem was sold in 2017 to a London jeweler for $53 million. The world’s largest diamond was 3,106 carats found in South Africa in 1905.