Massive uncut diamond extracted from Karowe Mine in Botswana unveiled in New York

- Africa - September 28, 2021
This picture taken on 21 January 2020 shows the second-biggest rough diamond named 'Sewelo', also from the Karowe Mine in Botswana, displayed at place Vendome's Louis Vuitton luxury shop in Paris
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  • Mining company Lucara Diamond Corp, along with HB Antwerp, unveiled a 1 175-carat diamond in New York City, kicking off a week of viewings.
  • The uncut stone was one of three diamonds of over a thousand carats extracted from the Karowe Mine in Botswana.
  • At a time when lab-grown diamonds are being considered as viable alternatives, the partners hope to spotlight the stone’s natural state.

 

PARIS – In a bid to drum up investor appetite for rough, natural diamonds, mining company Lucara Diamond Corp and manufacturer HB Antwerp on Monday unveiled a 1 175-carat diamond in New York City.

HB Antwerp told Reuters it has yet to decide whether the uncut diamond will be cut into polished stones.

The uncut stone was one of three diamonds of over a thousand carats extracted from the Karowe Mine in Botswana in recent years. In 2020, the two companies teamed up with Louis Vuitton to show the Sewelo diamond, also from the Karowe Mine, with each of the three parties taking ownership.

Oded Mansori, chief executive officer of HB Antwerp, told Reuters:

We’ve been in the business for many years, for quite some time, and these types of things do get us excited because of the sheer size.

He held up a hand, curling his fingers as if holding an egg, to demonstrate its size.

The partners aim to throw the spotlight on the natural state of the stone, at a time when lab-grown diamonds are casting themselves as viable commercial alternatives to real diamonds.

The mining company started using X-ray technology in 2015 to help locate and identify diamonds.

“We do expect that we will recover more exceptional diamonds in excess of a thousand carats in size – but on a global basis, this is still an extremely rare and unusual event,” said Lucara’s chief executive, Eira Thomas. News24.com

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