Mystery surrounds the reported discovery of what might be the largest diamond in the world. The stone, found in an unnamed North West mine, is believed to be twice the size of the world’s biggest, the Cullinan.
A spokesperson for the mining company that made the discovery, Brett Jolly, said the stone was excavated on Monday. The mining company is part of the property-development firm Two Point Five group.
Mining Weekly Online reported that Jolly said: “As far as I understand, a 7Â 000-carat light green stone is sitting in a bank vault in Johannesburg.”
The stone was transported to a vault in Johannesburg under strict surveillance from a hired security company to be examined by experts. When photographing of the stone is completed, the mining company will decide what to do next, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reported.
A greenish tinge is a quality found in some rough diamonds.
The possible diamond is described as being about 7Â 000 carats, making it the size of a soccer ball. However, industry experts are not sure if there is gem-quality material to be extracted from the stone, if the story is true at all.
Neither the Department of Minerals and Energy nor the South African Diamond Board was able to provide information on the find on Tuesday.
Gemologist Les Milner said: “It hasn’t been verified by an independent source.” Milner had been sent a cellphone picture of the “stone” — as industry experts caution it should be referred to until confirmed as a diamond.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported that the find has thrilled the diamond community, and that the stone is expected to draw furious bidding from buyers worldwide. It could sell for up to about R218-million.
Fred Cuellar, the founder of Diamond Cutters International and author of How to Buy a Diamond, said he first heard about the find a few days ago. “I get a phone call when any rare stone around the world is found, and when I heard about this one it was stunning news.”
The find “caught everybody in the diamond industry offside. There will be a lot of mad bidding from a lot of private individuals as to who is going to buy this stone,” the Guardian quoted Cuellar as saying.
If the stone is a diamond, it will first have to be verified as such, and if it is going to be exported, it will need the necessary licensing documentation. It will also be subjected to the Kimberley Process, a system aimed at controlling the sale of “blood diamonds”.
It is also not uncommon for the owner of a big find to initially keep details under wraps for the purposes of increasing buyer interest.
The Cullinan I, the world’s largest diamond, was discovered near Pretoria in 1905 by Frederick Wells, surface manager of the Premier Diamond Mining Company. The Cullinan is the second-largest rough gem-quality diamond found to date, at 3Â 106,75 carats.
The largest identified green diamond is the Dresden Green, which weighs 40,70 carats.