ALROSA, the largest mining company in the world, announced the recovery of a diamond in the shape of a soccer ball. The stone was mined on July 4 at Karinsky-1 pipe in Arkhangelskaya region. It was developed by ALROSA’s subsidiary Severalmaz. The diamond weights 0.5 ct and reaches 3.5 x 3.2 mm in size.
Image credit: ALROSA
“Despite its small size, this is a unique founding. Nature creates different strange forms, but we recovered a soccer ball shaped diamond for the first time,” said ALROSA CEO Sergey Ivanov.
The Governor of Arkhangelsky region, where the stone was recovered, suggested that they name the stone “Igor Akinfeev” to honor the goalkeeper of Russian National Football team. “Noteworthy is that the diamond was found on the eve of the quarter-finals, which our team reached thanks largely to a brilliant game of Igor Akinfeev,” said the Head of the region Igor Orlov.