A precious stone of exceptional size: the second largest diamond in the world, worth 2,492 carats, discovered in Africa

An impressive discovery was made in Botswana this Thursday, August 22: that of the second largest diamond in the world.

A diamond of exceptional size: the second largest in the world at 2,492 carats, but which barely fits in the palm of a hand, was found in a mine in Botswana, a Canadian mining company announced on Thursday, August 22.

This half-kilo precious stone, detected in the Karowe mine in northeastern Botswana, Africa's leading diamond producer, is “one of the largest rough diamonds ever discovered”, Lucara company highlights in a press release.

According to the Botswana government and several experts, it is the second largest ever found in the earth. In terms of carats, it is not far from the world's largest known diamond, the “Cullinan”, weighing over 3,100 carats, unearthed in South Africa in 1905.

“We are delighted to have recovered this extraordinary diamond,” said Lucara CEO William Lamb, quoted in the statement, which did not provide details on the value of the find or its quality. According to the Financial Times, which cites sources close to Lucara, the stone could be worth more than $40 million.

Lucara Botswana Managing Director Naseem Lahri presented the stone to the country's President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Thursday afternoon. “I am told it is the largest diamond discovered in Botswana to date and the second largest in the world,”, Masisi said, congratulating the company. “With a diamond of this size, you can build roads,” the president added. Lucara said it pays the Botswana government a royalty of 10% of the gross sales value of diamonds produced at Karowe.

X-ray detection

“The historic discovery of this rough diamond, the largest in 120 years, is exciting”,underlines Tobias Kormind, general manager of 77 Diamonds, Europe's largest online jeweler. According to him, this large, largely translucent stone is "the largest rough diamond unearthed since the discovery of the Cullinan" diamond, which had been cut in several pieces, the largest of which were set in the British Crown Jewels.

This discovery is "largely due to recent technology" X-ray detection, developed by the Lucara company and used since 2017, "which makes it possible to extract larger precious stones from the ground without them break", underlines the specialist.

"So it is likely that we will see more" emerge, he added. The Karowe mine began producing in 2012 and Lucara has since sold 216 diamonds over $1 million and 11 diamonds over $10 million, according to the company.

Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers by volume, and the largest by value according to the IMF. They constitute its main source of income, representing 30% of its GDP and 80% of its exports.

As Lucara points out in its press release, diamond revenues bring to Botswana "considerable socio-economic benefits", by financing "essential areas such as education and health" like the infrastructure of this country of 2.6  million inhabitants.

Before the discovery announced this Thursday, August 22, the largest diamond discovered in Botswana was a 1,758 carat stone also extracted by Lucara in 2019 and named Sewelo, which means "rare discovery" in the Tswana language. As big as a tennis ball, it was purchased by Louis Vuitton, flagship brand of luxury giant LVMH, for an undisclosed price.

Lucara recalls in its press release that it also found a 1 174-carat diamond in Botswana in 2021, using the same X-ray technology used to identify the exceptionally large rough diamond this week.