Two mines previously owned by De Beers have produced rare blue and pink gems. This week, Lucara Diamonds announced that Karowe Mine produced a 62.7 carat fancy pink gem.
Named “Boitumelo,” meaning “Joy” in Setswana, this impressive diamond measures 26x17x16mm and is described as a high-quality, fancy pink, Type IIa gem. It was recovered from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe at Karowe.
The stone represents the largest fancy pink gem to be recovered in Botswana and is one of the world’s largest rough pink diamonds on record. A superb, 22.21 carat fancy pink gem of similar quality was also recovered during the same production period along with two additional pink gems of similar colour and purity weighing 11.17, and 5.05 carats, according to Lucara.
Karowe was previously owned by De Beers before it was sold to Lucara. It has produced several large stones from the mine, including the massive 1,109-carat ‘Lesedi-La-Rona’ and the 813-carat ‘Constellation’.
A few weeks ago, Lucara announced recovery of a 1,174.76 carat diamond from Karowe. The diamond, measuring 77x55x33mm, is described as a clivage gem of variable quality with significant domains of high-quality white gem material. It was recovered from direct milling of ore sourced from the EM/PK(S) unit of the South Lobe. The 1,174-carat diamond represents the third +1,000 carat diamond recovered from the South Lobe of the AK6 kimberlite since 2015, including the 1,758-carat ‘Sewelô’ and 1,109-carat ‘Lesedi-La-Rona’.
The 1,174.76-carat diamond was recovered in the MDR (Mega Diamond Recovery) XRT circuit. On the same production day, several other diamonds of similar appearance (471 carat, 218-carat, 159 carat) were recovered at the main XRT circuit, indicating the 1,174-carat diamond was part of a larger diamond with an estimated weight of > 2000 carats.
Diamonds recovered greater than 10.8 carats in weight accounted for 17.5 percent weight percent of total production during this period.
Meanwhile, in South Africa, Cullinan Mine produced a 39.3-carat blue gem in April. Blue gems are among the most rare and valuable diamonds. Cullinan Mine is owned by Petra Diamonds, the second largest producer of diamonds in South Africa after De Beers. Petra bought Cullinan from De Beers.
According to Fin24, Petra Diamonds has sold the blue gem for more than $40 million (around P441 million), making it one of the most expensive rough diamonds to-date. Reports say the small miner sold the exceptional Type IIb blue diamond to a joint venture between top producer De Beers and Diacore, a trading company owned by billionaire Steinmetz family, adding that the stone fetched just over $1 million per carat and is the most expensive gem that Petra has ever sold.
Cullinan, based 40 kilometres (24 miles) east of the capital Pretoria, is famous for both large and blue stones and was where the world’s biggest diamond was found in 1905. De Beers sold the mine for one billion rand (147 million US dollars, 99 million euros), according to reports.
