Letseng's Wonders Continue, Produces 494 Carat Diamond

Southern Africa has recently been whirling with large diamond finds. Only a couple of weeks after the unconfirmed announcement of the recovery of a 7,000+ diamond, Gem Diamonds announced the recovery of a 494 carat diamond from its Letseng Mine in Lesotho.

“The diamond is an excellent color and has high clarity,” the company said in a release. The stone is believed to be the 18th largest rough diamond ever found.

The Letseng mine has so far produced three of the world’s 20 largest diamonds, two of them – the 603 carat Lesotho Promise and the as yet unnamed 494 carat stone – in the last 13 months alone. The Lesotho Promise, recovered in August 2006 and sold in October 2006 for $12.4 million, is the 15th largest rough diamond ever found in the world. The Lesotho Brown, recovered in 1961 is the 16th largest.

Letseng also produced a 215 carat D-color flawless diamond in January, which sold for $8.3 million.

The stone, according to Reuters, was insured for $15 million. Like the Lesotho Promise, it will be sold by tender in Antwerp by WWW Consultants.

The Letseng Mine hosts two kimberlites – the main and satellite pipes – that the miner estimates have a combined diamond value of $4.7 billion. The average per carat price from the satellite pipe is $1,894 and $1,128 from the main pipe.

Gem Diamonds owns 70 of the mine, the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho owns the remainder.