Gem Diamonds said it has recovered a 169-carat, top white colour Type IIa diamond from its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.
Image credit: Gem Diamonds
This, it said, was the seventh diamond of over 100 carats recovered in 2018 from the mine.
The stones included a 910-carat diamond recovered in January and sold for $40 million this week.
Gem Diamonds chief executive Clifford Elphick recently said that the recovery of greater than 100 carat diamonds was due to the ongoing technical improvements made at the Letšeng mine.
The company produced 111,811 carats in 2017, a 3 percent growth from 108, 206 carats realised, a year earlier.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished