Lucara Discovers 1,758 Carat Diamond in Botswana

Africa-focused gem miner Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC,OTC Pink:LUCRF) has made a monumental discovery of a 1,758 carat stone at its Karowe diamond mine in Botswana.

The gargantuan find from the company is the largest gem ever mined in Botswana and one of the largest diamonds ever produced.

It also marks a major milestone for the Canadian diamond miner. The rare gem was unearthed through Lucara’s exclusive XRT circuit, which was commissioned in 2015. The circuit has produced a total of approximately 1.4 million carats since then.

The almost 2,000 carat stone weighs roughly 350 grams, with dimensions of 83 x 62 x 46 millimeters. According to Lucara, the diamond is “near gem of variable quality,” and includes areas of high-quality white gem.

Since bringing the XRT circuit online in Q2 2015, the company has recovered a dozen diamonds in excess of 300 carats, two of which are greater than 1,000 carats. Fifty percent of these large stones were categorized as gem quality. To date, 11 of the 12 have sold for revenue in excess of US$158 million.

“Lucara’s technologically advanced XRT diamond recovery circuit has once again delivered historic results,” Lucara CEO Eira Thomas said in a press release.

“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 ore body and gain access to the geologically favorable EM/PK(S) unit, the source of both of our record breaking, above 1,000 carat diamonds.”

This year has been exciting for the diamond sector thus far, with a number of large, high-quality finds originating in Africa.

Earlier this month, South African miner Petra Diamonds (LSE:PDL) announced the recovery of a 425.1 carat diamond from its Cullinan mine.

This latest discovery from Petra follows the company’s March announcement of its 100.83 carat stone from the same mine.

The Cullinan mine is renowned as home to the largest diamond ever found — the 3,106 carat diamond that was used to create the 530.2 carat Cullinan I diamond, which is included in the crown jewels. An additional 317 carat stone — Cullinan II — was also incorporated in the royal gems.

The whopping 1,758 carat Lucara gem is currently undergoing detailed analysis.

Shares of Lucara were up 6.41 percent on Thursday (April 25), trading at C$1.70.

Image courtesy of Lucara Diamond.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Georgia Williams, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.