After 1905, when the 3,106.75-carat rough “Cullinan Diamond” was discovered at the Cullinan Mine near Pretoria, South Africa. We had to wait till 16 November 2015 to discover “Lesedi La Rona”, at 1,111 carats, it is the second largest diamond ever extracted from our planet Earth.
What does Lesedi La Rona mean?
On 18 January 2016, Chief Executive Officer William Lamb of Lucara Diamond announced a competition, open to all Botswana citizens, to name the stone. In addition to naming the diamond the winner would receive P25,000 (about $2,170).
On 9 February 2016, Lucara Diamond announced that the stone had been named Lesedi La Rona which means "Our Light" in Tswana language. The winner of the competition who named the diamond was Thembani Moitlhobogi from Mmadikola. He stated that his reason for the name was that "the diamond is a pride, light and hope of Batswana". During the competition Lucara Diamond Corporation received 11,000 emails and 1,000 SMS’s with name suggestions.
Largest diamond found?
If we consider the largest Rough diamond (diamond that is in its natural form, unpolished), it will be the Sergio with 3167 Carat found in Brazil in 1895, but its origin is meteoric and of Carbonado class. Carbonado, commonly known as the "black diamond", is the toughest form of natural diamond. It is an impure form of polycrystalline diamond consisting of diamond, graphite, and amorphous carbon. It is found primarily in alluvial deposits in the Central African Republic and in Brazil. Its natural colour is black or dark grey, and it is more porous than other diamonds. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbonado)
Where did we found it?
“Lesedi La Rona”, discovered at Lucara Diamond Corp.’s Karowe mine in Botswana, we found out it was a 27-year-old trainee who had worked at Lucara Diamond Corp. for fewer than five months. He didn’t believe his eyes, asked his trainer that passed over to the mine’s chief sorter and then to the senior process engineer and then to reach the geology department of Lucara. Result, he found the second biggest white diamond ever found. This discovery has stimulated everyone at the mine that everything is possible.
A few days later the two more diamonds weighing 813 (The Constellation, see blog of 10 may 2016) and 374 carats were also found in the mine.
29 June 2016 is the date to remember. The diamond will be offered in a stand-alone auction by Sotheby’s London, and is expected to sell for around 70 million USD. The diamond is presented as weighing 1,109 carats.
The diamond has already been sent to Antwerp, Belgium to be examined by the Antwerp master polishers to see what it will come out of this exceptional diamond but the result will come years later by then, let’s keep discover more beauties like this one.