Of all the diamonds known to historians, it is second only in weight to the famous "Cullinan" (620 g), found in South Africa in 1905 and broken into nine separate stones for cutting, many of which adorn the symbols of power of the British monarchs and are stored in the Tower of London, reports BBC.com
The new diamond was found about 500 km north of the capital of Botswana, Gaborone. The country's authorities have already announced that this is the largest diamond ever discovered in this South African state.
To date, the largest diamond found in Botswana has been a 1,758 carat (352 g) stone, and it was found five years ago, in 2019, at the same mine.
Botswana is one of the largest diamond producers. About one in five stones sold in the world was mined in this country.
The head of Lucara, William Lamb, said that the company's employees were "absolutely delighted" with the find. The diamond was discovered using the proprietary Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology. It has been used since 2017 to search, detect and preserve expensive diamonds so that they do not break up during the crushing of kimberlite ore.
The company has not yet provided any details about the characteristics of the stone, its purity or potential value.
The previous record - a 1,758-carat stone found in 2019 - was sold to the French fashion house Louis Vuitton. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.
A 1,109-carat diamond found at the same mine in 2016 was bought a year later for $63 million by London jeweler Lawrence Graff, head of Graff Diamonds.
