The second largest diamond to date has finally been unearthed. Lucara mining found the valuable gem on Monday, and despite not getting a market value for it yet, the company’s shares soared quickly in the stock market.
According to CNET, the second largest diamond in more than 100 years was unearthed in Karowe Mine in Botswana by Lucara on Monday. The mining company called it right away "the world's second largest gem-quality diamond ever recovered and the largest ever to be recovered through a modern processing facility."
The diamond, which is classified as a "Ila," is a 1,111-carat gemstone. It is said to be one free from impurities. However, despite its sure-fire priceless value, the Canadian mining company failed to identify the market value of the precious rock and instead has to send it to Antwerp.
What's great about this rare find is it can instantly get much attention for the company who found it. Lucara shares skyrocketed in the stock market and moved up after the company's value jumped by $150 million, as per CNN Money.
The Vancouver-based company's CEO William Lamb said, "The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century and the continued recovery of high quality stones...cannot be overstated."
Lucara has yet to decide on how to sell the monstrous diamond and who to sell it to, but the company is already flooded with numerous inquiries from several interested buyers.
Nevertheless, Lucara admitted that it will very likely auction the hard rock once its market value has been identified and once it has been full prepared for sale. Lamb said, "People are still reeling from the fact that it's over 1,000 carats," as quoted by The Guardian.
The unearthing of the very large diamond was made possible by an advanced technology called the Large Diamond Recovery XRT machine or the X-ray transmission machine.
It's the first time that this machine was used to mine diamonds, and it really did well in finding a very variable gemstone.
Tomra explained how the machine works and it noted: "The sensors recognize the target material on the basis of typical characteristics such as color, atomic density, transparency or conductivity."
Lucara's diamond still has no name as of late, but it could be regarded as the company's savior since it wiped out all of the losses of the company in an instant.
