Lucara Uncovers the World’s Second-Largest Diamond in Botswana

A massive 2,492-carat diamond, the second-largest ever discovered, was recently unearthed by Lucara Diamond Corp, a Canadian mining company, in Botswana. The company announced on Thursday that the gem was found using advanced X-ray technology at the Karowe Diamond Mine in northeastern Botswana.

Although Lucara hasn’t disclosed a valuation for the diamond, it ranks just behind the 3,016-carat Cullinan Diamond, discovered in South Africa in 1905.

“We are thrilled to have recovered this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond,” said William Lamb, Lucara’s president. The company highlighted that this diamond is among the largest rough diamonds ever found, attributing the discovery to their Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology, which has been used since 2017. This technology was specifically developed to detect and protect large, valuable diamonds.

During a ceremony, Naseem Lahri, managing director of Lucara Botswana, presented the palm-sized, translucent diamond to President Mokgweetsi Masisi. “I’m told this is the largest diamond discovered in Botswana and the second-largest in the world,” Masisi remarked, commending the company’s achievement. He also emphasized the importance of diamonds to Botswana. According to the International Monetary Fund, this country heavily relies on diamond mining, which contributes 30% of its GDP and 80% of its exports.

Botswana’s economy has significantly transformed since diamonds were first discovered a year after its independence in 1966. Lucara continues to pay a 10% royalty on all diamond sales from Karowe. Masisi hinted at potential infrastructure developments that could arise from this latest find.

Tobias Kormind of 77 Diamonds, a leading European online diamond retailer, hailed the discovery as the most important since the Cullinan. He credited modern technology for allowing the extraction of larger diamonds intact and predicted more such discoveries in the future.

Previously, the largest diamond found in Botswana was a 1,758-carat gem in 2019, also unearthed by Lucara at Karowe, with another significant find in 2021. Despite challenges in the diamond market, including competition from lab-grown diamonds, President Masisi remains optimistic about maximizing the value of this discovery, which sources close to Lucara estimate at over $40 million, according to the Financial Times.