Botswana found a 998ct rough diamond

Canadian diamond miner Lucara announced a new diamond discovery last week-a gem-quality rough diamond weighing 998ct was mined at the Karowe mining area in Botswana. The size is 67x49x45mm and has excellent whiteness. This is also the discovery this year. The second rough diamond over 500ct.

Because this 998ct diamond has obvious cleavage, it needs to be divided first, and then cut and polished independently. Lucara will cooperate with Belgian diamond polisher HB to complete the cutting of this rough stone.

Lucara revealed that this new diamond discovery was sorted by the "Mega Diamond Recovery" equipment. The device was launched in 2017 and is dedicated to sorting large-size rough stones during processing to reduce the risk of diamond breakage. The equipment also sorted out a 549ct rough diamond "Sethunya", which has been sold to Louis Vuitton.

This rough diamond comes from the more profitable EM/PK(S) unit in the southern leaf of the Karowe mining area. Many large-size rough diamonds have been produced in this area, such as the 1758ct "Sewelô", the 1109ct "Lesedi La Rona" and the 813ct " Constellation".

Since 2020, a total of 31 rough diamonds over 100ct have been discovered in the Karowe mining area, including 10 diamonds over 200ct.