Botswana: 1,174-carat diamond unearthed from Karowe mine presented to President Masisi

A huge diamond weighing 1,174.76-carat has been unearthed in Botswana. The diamond was discovered by diamond company Lucara in June and it was presented to the country's President and the cabinet on July 7. Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi welcomed the increasing frequency of diamond discoveries in the country. 

Huge diamond unearthed in Botswana

Lucara Diamond company has discovered a 1174.76-carat diamond from its Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. The diamond measuring 77x55x33mm, has been described as a "clivage gem of variable quality with significant domains of high-quality white gem material", according to the company. The huge diamond is the third-largest diamond in the world which weighs more than 1000-carats, according to the company.

The 1,174.76 carat diamond was discovered in the MDR (Mega Diamond Recovery) XRT circuit. Eira Thomas, the CEO of Lucara diamond informed that the discovered diamond is the third diamond which is over 1,000 carat, a world record for Karowe. "Although complex, these diamond recoveries do contain large domains of top colour white gem that will be transformed through our partnership with HB Antwerp into valuable collections of top colour polished diamonds, very much in high demand in the market today", Thomas said. Karowe has produced 17 diamonds greater than 100-carats, which included five over 300-carats. 

Last month, Botswana had unearthed the world’s third-largest diamond weighing 1,098-carat. One of the largest precious stones in terms of ‘gem quality’ was excavated at the country’s Jwaneng mine, about 75 miles from the capital, Gaborone. “The diamond which is the third-largest in the world after the first and second that was discovered in South Africa and Lucara Botswana respectively was discovered on June 1 from Jwaneng mine's South Kimberlite pipe,” the government of Botswana announced on Twitter.  

IMAGE: OfficialMasisi/Twitter