Russia’s Alrosa (MCX:ALRS), the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, has unearthed 27.85-carat pink precious rock the company believes could be the most expensive it has ever found.
The miner, majority-owned by the Russian government, said the gem-quality stone was found at its alluvial mines in Russia’s Far East, adding that the largest pink diamond it had previously discovered was less than 4 carats in weight.
The impressive pink rock, measuring 22.47 mm x 15.69 mm x 10.9 mm, has very few flaws and could become the company’s most expensive polished diamond if it decides to cut it, Alrosa said in the statement.
Coloured diamonds, especially pink ones, have been lately setting records in auctions. In April, Sotheby’s sold a 59.6-carat one — the ‘‘Pink Star’’ — for $71.2 million. Until then, the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was the “Oppenheimer Blue,” which fetched 56.8 million Swiss francs (more than $57 million at the time) in May 2016.
The previous world auction record for a pink diamond was $46.2 million for the 24.78 carat “Graff Pink” in 2010.
Alrosa noted that it is currently trying to decide on whether to sell this pink rock as a rough diamond, or cut and polish it.
3 Comments
Altaf
Its never too late to gain knowledge. I believed Argyle is the only mine that produces pink diamonds until this.
Or is it?
Conspiracy theory :
We all know Russia is producing diamonds in lab and the size of lab diamonds is growing as technology progresses. The last I heard they were able to produce gems bigger than 10 carats. Not only are they producing bigger gems but also producing better gems difficult to check if they are lab produced or natural mined ones.
What if they produced this pink diamond in lab and inserted into Alrosa mines to be “found naturally during mining”?
Not intending to demean Alrosa or Russia but pink diamonds from anywhere but Argyle is unbelievable. But if true, it is great news for gem lovers as the source can be diversified and more gems means affordable pinks.
PRINCE A D GAISIE
Anything can be done in the laboratories Now as we have developed different things to challenge our human ingenuity. Sodium Cyanide used for over 100 years and the complexities and conquences on its uses has been conquered and thiourea is now available for use.
Denmaz Pepe
As we know, the pink diamond only found at central africa not in rusia