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The world’s second-largest diamond ever found, unearthed by Canada’s Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC) in Botswana two years ago, will have to be cut after it failed to sell at a Sotheby’s auction last summer.
Bidding for the now historic 1,109-carat “Lesedi La Rona,” which means “our light” in the Tswana language spoken in Botswana, stalled at around $61 million — short of the expected $70 million.
And while Lucara is not in a rush to sell the unique rock, it may never get what it wants for it, as potential buyers now know what the market is willing to pay, Reuters reports.
Lucara’s chief executive William Lamb said another challenge to fetch what the tennis ball-size diamond is worth, is the fact that the polishing itself is risky.
The unsold diamond, he noted, still “weighs heavily” on the company’s shares, which are down more than 30% from late 2016.
The 373.72-carat diamond cut from Lesedi la Rona that sold for $17.5 million in May. (Image courtesy of Graff Diamonds.)
Some experts, such as Rare Diamond House managing director Oded Mansori, believe it would be a mistake for Lucara to hold onto the massive rough diamond, as several players including Gem Diamonds (LON:GEMD), Lucapa (ASX:LOM) and Petra (LON:PDL) have recently found large precious rocks.
Others believe it’s just too massive to sale. “When is a diamond too big? I think we have found that when you go above 1,000 carats, it is too big — certainly from the aspect of analyzing the stones with the technology available,” Panmure Gordon mining analyst Kieron Hodgson told Reuters.
Lucara’s sales remain healthy. To date it has disposed of 145 diamonds at more than $1 million each, including a 373.7-carat rock that broke off from Lesedi la Rona, which sold for $17.5 million in May.
3 Comments
Altaf
Its a shame when it gets cut for the sole purpose of sale. People spent hundreds of millions on cut polished, set stones in auctions. It is surprising to see that such a historic rock goes unsold. When it gets cut for sale, mankind loses something called miracle gift of nature.
If Lucapa want to encash the stone for liquidity, the least it can do is borrow against the stone. When it is established that it got a 61 million offer, they may get 50 million if they mortagage which will at least cover most of the cost.
Diamond miners when they operate, they not only do it for commerce but when they find such miracles of nature, they also have a responsibility towards mankind to preserve it until the best gem is cut out of it.
Habib Djalal
Agree
David Ichelson
Total bull shit..after cutting diamond for 50 yrs. I have a view that lucara doesn’t want. Its a rock with mineral behaviorism easily recognized by master’s. What they fear is heat management but they never put the 2 words together. And the rock ain’t that big… They don’t have the geometricartistic experience to envision…..or it is beautiful as is…..until we get another.