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World’s 2nd largest diamond: 1,111-carat found in Botswana, Africa

The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone.
It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century.

Botswana is located in Southern Africa and bordered by South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. It is a mid-sized country with over 2 million people. For the most part the country is flat, dry and 70 per cent is covered by the Kalahari Desert. Botswana is part of an elite club of Africa’s preeminent economic performers, and this is thanks to the discovery of diamonds.

The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.

“The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century… cannot be overstated,” William Lamb, the CEO of Lucara Diamond, a Canadian diamond producer, said in a statement.

Lucara says two other “exceptional” white diamonds – an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat stone – were also found at the Karowe mine.
“This has been an amazing week for Lucara with the recovery of the second largest and also the sixth largest gem quality diamonds ever mined,” Mr Lamb said.

Botswana is the world’s largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.

In April, 2015  a flawless 100-carat diamond was sold for $22.1m (£14.8m) at Sotheby’s in New York.

The gem, originally mined in South Africa, had taken more than a year to cut, polish and perfect.

source: World’s second-largest diamond ‘found in Botswana’ – BBC 

www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/11/20/worlds-second-largest-diamond-found-in-botswana

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