Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #553

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Big Pink Diamond
Discovered In Angola,
Largest In 300 years
By Nqobile Ntshangase
JOHANNES- BURG (AP) — A big pink diamond of 170 carats has been discovered in Angola and is claimed to be the largest such gem- stone found in 300 years.
Called the “Lulo Rose,” the dia- mond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine, the mine’s owner,
the Lucapa Diamond Company, announced Wednesday on its website.
“Only one in 10,000 diamonds is colored pink. So you’re certain- ly looking at a very rare article when you find a very large pink diamond,” Lucapa CEO Stephen Wetherall told The Associated Press.
The pink gem- stone is expected to fetch a high value when auc- tioned, but Wetherall said he doesn’t know what kind of pre- mium will be paid because of its color.
Lulo is an alluvial mine which means the stones are recovered from a river bed. The Lucapa com- pany is searching
for the under- ground deposits, known as kimber- lite pipes, which would be the main source of the diamonds, said Wetherall, speaking from the company’s head- quarters in Australia.
“We’re looking for the kimberlite pipes that brought these diamonds to the surface,” Wetherall said. “When you find
these high-value large diamonds ... it certainly ele- vates the excite- ment from our perspective in our hunt for the pri- mary source.”
About 400 staff are employed at the Lulo mine which has already produced the two largest diamonds ever found in Angola, including a 404-carat clear diamond, he said.
The pink gem- stone is the fifth largest diamond found at the mine where 27 dia- monds of 100 carats or more have been found, according to Lucapa.
The pink diamond will be sold by international ten- der by the Angolan state diamond market- ing company, Sodiam. Angola’s mines make it one of the world’s top 10 producers of diamonds.
“This record and spectacular pink diamond recov- ered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage for diamond mining and demonstrates the potential and rewards for com- mitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry,” Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas said, accord- ing to the Lucapa website.
The pink diamond is an impressive size but many clear diamonds are larger than 1,000 carats. The Cullinan diamond found in South Africa in 1905 tips the scales at 3,106 carats and it’s in the British Sovereign’s Scepter.
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