GABORONE, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Botswana continued to make history in the diamond mining sector with revelation of a large 1,758 carat uncut diamond on Thursday.
Canadian mining company Lucara Diamond unearthed the gem from its Karowe mine in central Botswana, about 500 km north of the capital city Gaborone.
According to a press release from Lucara on Thursday, the diamond ranks among the biggest uncut diamonds ever in history and the largest ever diamond recovered in Botswana.
It says the stone, weighing close to 352 grams, has been characterized as near gem of variable quality, including domains of high-quality white gem. It said further analysis of the diamond is still ongoing.
The mine has already made news in the past years by unearthing a 1,111-carat raw diamond named Lesedi la Rona, or "our light," in November 2015.
The diamond was bought for 53 million U.S. dollars by a British jeweller in 2017.
Commenting on the current discovery, Eira Thomas, Lucara's CEO, said Lucara's technologically advanced, XRT diamond recovery circuit has once again delivered historic results.
"Karowe has now produced two diamonds greater than 1,000 carats in just four years, affirming the coarse nature of the resource and the likelihood of recovering additional, large, high quality diamonds in the future," Thomas said.
The news of the discovery came barely a week after government owned Okavango Diamond Company announced discovery of a rare and exceptional 20 carat blue diamond.
The diamond was the biggest blue diamond ever discovered in the southern African country and has been graded as a Type IIb "Fancy Deep Blue."
Diamonds remain the biggest revenue generator to Botswana's economy ever since their mining started in the early 1980s.
