Named ‘Lulo Rose’, the diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine, the mine’s owner, Lucapa Diamond Company, announced on its website on Wednesday. “Only one in 10,000 diamonds are pink in color. So you’re definitely looking at a very rare article when you find a very large pink diamond,” Lucapa CEO Stephen Wetherall told The Associated Press. The pink gemstone is expected to fetch a high value when it is auctioned, but Wetherall said he does not know what kind of premium it will pay because of its color.
Mine has a history of great discoveries
Lulo is an alluvial mine meaning the stones are reclaimed from a river bed. Lucapa is looking for underground deposits, known as kimberlite pipes, that would be the main source of the diamonds, Wetherall said, speaking from the company’s Australian headquarters. “We’re looking for the kimberlite pipes that brought these diamonds to the surface,” Wetherall said. “When you find these big, high-value diamonds … it certainly raises the excitement from our perspective in the hunt for the primary source.” About 400 people are employed at the Lulo mine, which has already produced the two largest diamonds ever found in Angola, including a 404-carat clear diamond, he said. The pink gemstone is the fifth largest diamond found at the mine where 27 diamonds of 100 carats or more have been found, according to Lucapa. The pink diamond will be sold by international tender by Angola’s state-owned diamond trading company, Sodiam. Angola’s mines make it one of the top 10 diamond producers in the world. “This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to highlight Angola as a major player on the global diamond mining stage and shows the potential and rewards for commitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry,” Diamantino Azevedo , Minister of Minerals of Angola. Resources, Petroleum and Gas said, according to the website Lucapa. The pink diamond is an impressive size, but many clear diamonds are larger than 1,000 carats. The Cullinan diamond found in South Africa in 1905 tipped the scales at 3,106 carats and adorns the Scepter of the British Sovereign.
