The world’s top diamond producer by output, Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), has unearthed a unique rough diamond weighing over 232 carats, the largest gem-quality specimen found in more than three years.
Gem-quality octahedron was found at the Udacnhaya kimberlite, in the Yakutia region of Siberia.
The diamond, dug up at the Udacnhaya kimberlite pipe on October 19, is an octahedron of yellowish hue with several chips. Its dimensions are 40х39х23 mm.
“Such large gem-quality crystals are extremely rare,” deputy chief executive, Evgeny Agureev, said in the statement. “We have not seen them since 2016, when two diamonds weighing over 200 carats were mined.”
Discovered in 1955, the Udachnaya kimberlite pipe is one of
the largest primary diamond deposits in the Yakutia region of Siberia and
globally. Its diamond output reached 2.385 million carats in nine months of
2019.
Alrosa produced more than 43million carats of diamonds in 2018 from its Russian mines, or about 27% of the world’s total. That’s 18% more than its closest competitor, Anglo American’s De Beers.
