GABORONE, Botswana (AP) — The biggest diamond discovered in additional than a century has been unearthed at a mine in Botswana, and the nation’s president confirmed off the fist-sized stone to the world at a viewing ceremony Thursday.

The Botswana authorities says the massive 2,492-carat diamond is the second-biggest ever found in a mine. It’s the most important diamond discovered since 1905.

The as-yet-unnamed diamond was offered to the world on the workplace of Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi. It weighs roughly half a kilogram and Masisi was one of many first to get to carry it.

“It’s overwhelming,” Masisi mentioned. “I’m fortunate to have seen it in my time.” He gasped and mentioned “wow” earlier than calling senior authorities officers over to take a more in-depth look.

Officers mentioned it was too early to worth the stone or resolve how it will be offered. One other smaller diamond from the identical mine in Botswana was offered for $63 million in 2016, a document for a tough gem.

“That is historical past within the making,” mentioned Naseem Lahri, Botswana managing director for Lucara Diamond Corp., the Canadian mining firm that discovered the diamond. “I’m very proud. It’s a product of Botswana.”

Lucara mentioned in an announcement Wednesday that it recovered the “distinctive” tough diamond from its Karowe Mine in central Botswana. Lucara mentioned it was a “high-quality” stone and was discovered intact. It was positioned utilizing X-ray know-how designed to search out massive, high-value diamonds.

“We’re ecstatic concerning the restoration of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” Lucara President and CEO William Lamb mentioned in an announcement.

The burden would make it the biggest diamond present in 119 years and the second-largest ever dug out of a mine after the Cullinan Diamond that was found in South Africa in 1905. The well-known Cullinan was 3,106 carats and was reduce into gems, a few of which kind a part of the British Crown Jewels.

A much bigger, much less pure black diamond was found in Brazil within the late 1800s, but it surely was discovered above floor and was believed to have been a part of a meteorite.

Botswana, a rustic of two.6 million folks in southern Africa, is the second-biggest producer of pure diamonds behind Russia and has unearthed all the world’s greatest stones in recent times. The Karowe Mine has produced 4 different diamonds over 1,000 carats within the final decade.

Earlier than this discovery, the Sewelo diamond, which was discovered on the Karowe Mine in 2019, was acknowledged because the second-biggest mined diamond on the planet at 1,758 carats. It was purchased by French vogue home Louis Vuitton for an undisclosed quantity.

The 1,111-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond, additionally from Botswana’s Karowe Mine, was purchased by a British jeweller for $53 million in 2017. One other diamond from Karowe, The Constellation, was offered for the document $63 million.

Diamonds are fashioned when carbon atoms are squeezed collectively below excessive strain deep underground. Scientists say most diamonds are a minimum of a billion years previous and a few of them greater than 3 billion years previous.

___

AP Africa information: