The world's 5th largest diamond to-date has just been uncovered at Lesotho's famous Letšeng mine. The rough piece, weighing in at 910 carats was said to be about the same size as two golf balls put together. Experts on call had determined the newly unearthed diamond to be worth around 40 million dollars. Its quality evaluation showed a D-color grade following the D-Z color scale that was originally standardized by the Gemological Institute of America.
The rare find was also labelled to be a Type II diamond (containing no measurable impurities like trace percentages of nitrogen atoms). Only 1 to 2 percent of all natural diamonds found are Type II stones.
The Letšeng mine is owned by Gem Diamonds which is a British-based diamond mining business that operates on an international trade scale. Since the company's acquisition of the mine back in 2006, the operation has found some of the world's largest diamond specimens, including the 603 carat Lesotho Promise.
This new diamond is the largest that the mine has ever produced, and will most likely be on its way to an auction house event or high visibility sale within the year. Stocks in the company have risen as an immediate result of the event, and just after news of 100+ carat stones also being found during the previous week.
It's landmark addition to the world's gemological record book, follows other giants like the 1,109-carat Lucara diamond, the 995-carat Excelsior, and the 969-carat Sierra Leone.
Pictured above is one of the other record-holders1109 carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, on view at a Sotheby's event in New York.
