By Michelle Graff

The giant gem came from Karowe, the same mine that yielded the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona and the 1,758-carat Sewelô diamond.

Letlhakane, Botswana—Lucara Diamond Corp. injected some excitement into an otherwise quiet and downbeat news cycle for the diamond industry on Wednesday.

The diamond mining company announced the recovery of an “exceptional” 2,492-carat rough diamond from its Karowe mine in Botswana.

It is ostensibly the second largest rough diamond found in recorded history, trailing only the 3,106-carat Cullinan, which was unearthed in 1905.

The stone also is believed to be the largest diamond ever found in Botswana (the Cullinan came from South Africa) and is one of a number of diamonds weighing more than 1,000 carats yielded by the Karowe mine, although they are of varying quality.

In 2015, Lucara recovered a 1,109-carat diamond later named Lesedi La Rona at the mine, and in 2019, it found a darker-colored 1,758-carat diamond described as being “near-gem of variable quality.” That diamond was later dubbed the Sewelô.

In 2021, the mining company discovered a 1,174-carat diamond it described as “clivage” and it found a “high quality” 1,080-carat diamond in August 2023.

In a short news release announcing this latest large find, Lucara did not explicitly describe the nearly 2,500-carat diamond as gem quality.

The mining company said the diamond is difficult to analyze with the naked eye because of its size, adding, “Full assessment of the type and color will be done over the coming weeks, although visual inspection does indicate that the internals of the stone are relatively clean.”

Lucara said the diamond was recovered because of the x-ray transmission technology it installed at Karowe’s processing plant in 2017 in order to identify and save any large, high-value diamonds.

It also noted that the 2,492-carat diamond was recovered from the processing of EM/PK(S) kimberlite, the dominant ore type Lucara will continue to target during the first years of underground mining at Karowe.

Lucara announced plans to go underground at Karowe in 2019, though it said last July that the transition would take longer than expected and cost more because there is more water underground than it anticipated.

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President and CEO William Lamb said in the release announcing the find.

“This find not only showcases the remarkable potential of our Karowe Mine, but also upholds our strategic investment in cutting-edge XRT technology … This discovery reinforces Karowe’s position as a truly world-class diamond mine and highlights the continued success of our operational and underground development strategy.”

Original article: National Jeweler