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Africa-focused Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD) has discovered two diamonds bigger than 100 carats at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, which should help the company boost revenue and investors confidence.
The two massive diamonds are a 151.52-carat Type I yellow rock and a high quality 104.73-carat, D-colour Type IIa stone, the London-based miner said in a statement.
The last time Gem Diamonds had made a significant discovery at its Letšeng mine before April this year was in 2015.
The findings come on the heels of other key discoveries at the mine. In April, the company announced the recovery of a 114-carat diamond and last month it found one of the highest-quality diamonds to come out of the Letšeng mine — an 80-carat, D-colour Type-II diamond.
The last time Gem Diamonds had found a significant diamond in Lesotho was in 2015, when it unearthed an “exceptional” 357-carat rock, later sold for $19.3 million.
Investors reacted positively to the news, with the stock was trading at 1.64% higher at 93 pence around 2:00PM GMT.
Since acquiring Letšeng in 2006, the company has found four of the 20 largest white gem quality diamonds ever recovered, which makes of the Lesotho 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.
