A diamond company called Debswana is believed to have discovered the world’s third-largest diamond in Botswana. The company has found a diamond weighing 1,098 carats and showed it to President Mokgweetsi two weeks after finding it.
It weighs only slightly lighter than the second-largest 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona diamond unearthed by Lucara Diamonds which was also discovered in Botswana in 2015.
Upon discovering this stone, Lynette Armstrong, managing director of the Debswana Diamond Company said: “This is the largest diamond discovered by Debswana in its more than 50-year history of operation. From our initial analysis, this could be the third quality gemstone in the world.”
The Debswana company is a joint venture between the government and global diamonds giant De Beers and up to 80% of revenue from sales goes to the state treasury through dividends, royalties, and taxes.
The company has yet to decide whether it wants to sell this “rare and extraordinary stone” through De Beers or the state-owned Okavango Diamond Company.
Additionally, the company plans to increase production by 38% to pre-pandemic levels of 23 million carats as the global diamond market has started to recover from the pandemic, and the restrictions related to COVID-19 have also eased.
The name of the stone has not yet been decided.
