Two Huge Diamonds Unearthed in Lesotho Mine

Jon Ecology

Gem Diamonds Ltd. discovered two diamonds bigger than 100 carats at its Lesotho mine in southern Africa, bringing the struggling miner a step closer to ending a drought of large stones.
Gem unearthed a 104.73 carat D color Type IIa diamond and a 151.52 carat Type I yellow diamond at its Letseng mine, the company said in a statement Monday. Type IIa diamonds contain very little or no nitrogen atoms and are the most expensive stones.
Until now Gem had reported just one large discovery this year, after unearthing a 114-carat diamond in April. Letseng is renowned for the size and quality of its stones, with an average sales price of almost $2,000 a carat, the highest in the industry. Yet the company has suffered recently from a lack of big finds and discovered just five stones bigger than 100 carats last year, fewer than half as many as it found in 2015.

This post was published at bloomberg