The giant stone found last month in the North West has still not been verified as the ”world’s largest diamond”.
President of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses Ernest Blom said on Thursday that he still had not seen the stone.
He remains the only person permitted to examine the stone.
”I’ve been imploring the owners to move forward so that we can put this matter to bed,” Blom said.
”The owners are scared from a security point of view, so they’ll wait until they’re comfortable.”
Blom said the delay had led to enormous speculation. ”But at the end of the day, I can only do so much,” he said.
The owners of the stone were concerned about its transportation.
”A huge firm like De Beers has its own security. In this case these people are small-scale miners and they don’t have their own security infrastructure,” Blom said.
The 7 000-carat stone was found in the North West. If it is a diamond, it would be the largest of its kind ever discovered.
The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan, weighs 3 016 carats. It was discovered near Pretoria in 1905. — Sapa