A 1,758-carat diamond, second only in size to the famous Cullinan diamond, has been unearthed by Lucara Diamond Corp at its Karowe mine in Botswana. The trouble is there aren’t very many buyers for a precious stone that size.
The 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, which Lucara recovered in November 2015, failed to meet its undisclosed reserve price at a June 2016 auction, putting pressure on the company’s shares. British diamond dealer Graff Diamonds finally bought it for $53m in September 2017. Forbes reported late last year that Graff had created 67 finished gems from the stone.
The stone is the latest in a series of high-value recoveries by Lucara, Since introducing its XRT diamond recovery technology, the company has recovered 12 diamonds over 300 carats, the company said, including a 472-carat and a 327-carat diamond in April 2018.
.
