Ivanhoe’s Kipushi zinc mine in the DRC officially reopens
The restart marked exactly a century since the mine first went into production.
Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) unveiled Thursday a 126-carat rock unearthed at its flagship Letšeng mine in Lesotho, the latest in a string of major discoveries at the operation this year.
The finding of the high quality D colour Type IIa diamond comes barely a month after the company discovered two massive diamonds at the same mine — a 151.52-carat Type I yellow rock and a high quality 104.73-carat, D-colour Type IIa stone.
It also follows the recovery of a 114-carat diamond in April and an 80-carat, D-colour Type-II diamond found in May — one of the highest-quality diamonds to come out of the Letšeng mine.
Type IIa diamonds contain very little or no nitrogen atoms, which places them among the most expensive stones.
Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, Gem Diamonds has found four of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recovered, which makes of the mine the world’s highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond operation.
At an average elevation of 3,100 metres (10,000 feet) above sea level, Letšeng is also one of the world’s highest diamond mines.
2 Comments
couchtripper
Stories like this are interesting, but not having a picture is pretty pointless.
MINING.com Editors
Agree. Unfortunately, the company did not provide a photo of the diamond.
~ Cecilia Jamasmie