The World’s Second-Largest Diamond Was Just Discovered in Botswana

A new diamond discovery could rewrite the record books.

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Canadian miner Lucara Diamond Corp stumbled upon what’s shaping up to be the second-largest stone in history and the biggest diamond ever discovered in Botswana, Bloomberg reported. The firm discovered the colossal 2,492-carat uncut gem at the South African state’s Karowe mine. The oversized rock is the biggest stone to turn up since the exceptional 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond was found in South Africa in 1905. Named after mine owner Thomas Cullinan, it was subsequently cut into nine major stones and incorporated into the British Crown Jewels .

“We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” said Lucara head William Lamb in a press release . The miner made the discovery with the help of the company’s Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology. Lucara has been using the tech since 2017 to identify and preserve large, high-value diamonds so they don’t break during the excavation process. “The ability to recover such a massive, high-quality stone intact demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach to diamond recovery,” Lamb continued.

While certainly one of the most significant discoveries in recent years, the unearthing of this massive stone is one of many headline-making finds at the 100 percent Lucara-owned Karowe mine. In 2015, the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona stone was found and later sold to Graff Diamonds for a whopping $53 million—or $47,777 per carat. More recently in 2021, Lucara came across a jumbo 1,098-carat diamond at its Karowe mine. At the time, it was the third 1000-plus-carat diamond recovered since 2015. Less than a week later, the company recovered an ever bigger 1,174.76-carat stone.

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The most notable, however, has to be the 1,758-carat Sewelô diamond which was excavated in April 2019. The grey-black rock was unearthed in Botswana and eventually purchased in 2020 by French luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton with plans to turn it into fine jewelry. The tennis ball-sized sparkler means “rare find” in the native Setswana language. However, with this new stone, the Sewelô from Lucara will now be dethroned as the world’s second-largest rough diamond.

“This discovery reinforces Karowe’s position as a truly world-class diamond mine and highlights the continued success of our operational and underground development strategy,” said Lamb.

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