More Huge Diamonds Unearthed By UK Miner

Gem Diamonds has recovered another huge diamond and other large high-quality stones at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, continuing an improved first quarter for the British company’s production.

The firm discovered four white diamonds weighing 88, 56, 53 and 33 carats between February 28 and March 3. It also found a “top-quality” 13-carat pink diamond.

The latest finds come after the recovery of a 114-carat gem at the same Letšeng operation (below) the miner reported last week. It found a 183-carat, white, Type IIa diamond last month.

Gem Diamonds is ahead of where it was this time last year in terms of its large-stone recoveries. In 2019, it had not found any stone over 100 carats until late March. During that year, the company unearthed a 13.33-carat pink diamond similar to the one it found last week. That stone sold for £6.7 million, fetching a record average price of $656,933 per carat for Gem Diamonds.
 
While the recovery of large stones bodes well for the company and its Belgium auction will proceed as planned at the time of writing, it has had to cancel a rough tender that was due to take place in Israel from March 8 to 12 because of the coronavirus outbreak, the Israel Diamond Exchange reported recently.