Letšeng discovers 910 carat diamond

MASERU – LETŠENG Diamonds unearthed a 910 carat colour-D Type lla diamond last Friday.
This discovery comes barely a week after the mine dug up 110 and 117 carat D-colour diamonds.
This is the biggest ever recovered diamond since the mine resumed operations in 2006.

The diamond is said to be the fifth largest gem quality diamond ever recovered in the world.
Clifford Elphick, Gem Diamonds’ Chief Executive Officer, said the diamond is the largest to be mined to date making it a “landmark recovery for all of Gem Diamonds’ stakeholders, including our employees, shareholders and the Government of Lesotho, our partner in the Letšeng mine.”

Since Gem Diamonds acquired Letšeng in 2006, the mine has produced some of the world’s most remarkable diamonds, including the 603 carat named Lesotho Promise and the 550 carat called Letseng Star that were discovered in 2011.
In the last year alone the mine has produced over seven diamonds larger than 100 carats.

Ben Davis, a mining analyst at Liberum Capital, told Economic Times in a research note to investors that the diamond could be worth as much as US$40 million (about M492.4 million).
The Friday discovery has brought the number of 100-carat-plus stones the company has found at the operation since early 2017 to 10.

Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, Gem Diamonds has found five of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recovered, which makes the mine the world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond operation.
At an average elevation of 3 100 metres above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.

Lemohang Rakotsoane