Gaborone: An enormous 1,174-carat diamond was recently unearthed in Botswana, days after another huge precious stone was discovered in the African country. The mining company, Lucara Diamond Corp., said in a statement that the diamond, which measures 77mm long, 55mm wide and 33mm thick, was found at the Karowe diamond mine last month. The company presented the diamond to the government at a ceremony on Wednesday.
It is the third diamond of over 1,000 carats unearthed from the same mining location, a world record for Karowe. Apart from the recovery of the rare rock, the mining company also unearthed several other diamonds — weighing 471, 218 and 159 carats — of similar appearance, suggesting the 1,174-carat diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of more than 2000 carats.
Before the discovery of the mega diamond, another huge 1,098-carat precious stone was discovered in Botswana by diamond firm Debswana, which was then believed to be the world’s third-largest gem-quality stone ever to be mined. The world’s second-largest diamond ‘Lesedi La Rona’ was also found in Botswana in 2015.