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Cailianshe News, August 22 (Editor: Xia Junxiong)On Wednesday (August 21st) local time, Canadian Lucara Diamond announced that it had discovered a 2,492-carat diamond at a mine in Botswana. This is the second largest natural diamond ever unearthed.

The diamond was found at the Karowe mine operated by Lucara in Botswana and has not yet been fully evaluated. It is unclear whether it will produce the highest quality diamonds.

"We are very excited to have discovered this extraordinary 2,492 carat diamond," said William Lamb, CEO of Lucara. Lucara identified the diamond using X-ray technology installed at the mine.

“The ability to recover such a large, high-quality diamond intact is a testament to the effectiveness of our diamond recovery method,” Lamb said.

Botswana is one of the world's largest diamond producers, accounting for about 20% of global production, and the Karowe mine is famous for producing huge diamonds.

In 2019, Lucara discovered a 1,758-carat diamond at the Karowe mine, but it did not reach gem quality.

In 2015, Lucara discovered a 1,109-carat diamond at Karowe, which was the second-largest diamond ever found at the time and eventually sold for $53 million. The Karowe mine also produced an 813-carat gem that sold for a record-breaking $63 million. Both diamonds were Type-IIa diamonds of the highest grade.

The largest natural diamond in history weighs 3,106 carats and was discovered in South Africa in 1905. It was named "Cullinan". The South African government at the time gave the Cullinan diamond to King Edward VII of England as a birthday gift.

The Cullinan Diamond was cut into nine large diamonds and nearly a hundred smaller diamonds. The largest one is nicknamed the "Great Star of Africa" ​​and is adorned on the British royal scepter.

Lucara’s latest discovery comes at a time when diamond prices are plunging. They have yet to recover significantly since they began falling last year due to slowing global economic growth, weakening demand for diamonds and the rise of synthetic diamonds.