Louis Vuitton buys world's second largest diamond unearthed in Botswana

Louis Vuitton has bought the world's second-largest diamond recovered in Botswana last year. The 1,758-carat rough diamond was discovered by Lucara Diamond Corp in Botswana last April, which is dark in colour and is named 'Sewelo" meaning "rare find" in the southern Tswana language.

According to a press release, Lucara has now entered into a collaboration with Louis Vuitton to polish and manufacture a number of smaller jewels from the diamond.

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World's second-largest diamond

According to the company's website, the diamond was recovered from Karowe Diamond Mine located in Botswana and is one of the largest diamonds in recorded history. The rare find is also the largest diamond recovered in Botswana and the largest to be mined at Karowe to date. Weighing close to 352 grams and measuring 83mm x 62mm x 46mm, the diamond has been characterized as a near gem of variable quality, including domains of the high-quality white gem.

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Eira Thomas, Lucara's CEO had commented after the discovery of the diamond. Eira said, "Lucara's technologically advanced, XRT diamond recovery circuit has once again delivered historic results. Karowe has now produced two diamonds greater than 1,000 carats in just four years, affirming the coarse nature of the resource and the likelihood of recovering additional, large, high-quality diamonds in the future, particularly as we mine deeper in the orebody and gain access to the geologically favourable EM/PK(S) unit, the source of both of our record-breaking, +1,000 carat diamonds."

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According to the press release, Lucara will receive an upfront non-material payment for the Sewelo and retain a 50% interest in the individual polished diamonds that result. Further, 5% of all of the retail sales proceeds generated from this historic collection will be invested directly back into Botswana on community-based initiatives undertaken by Lucara. The only larger diamond ever unearthed was the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905. 

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