The largest pink diamond of its kind ever in 300 years, weighing 170 carats, was discovered in Angola.
According to the Lucapa Diamond Company, which posted the discovery on its website on Wednesday, the “Lulo Rose” diamond was found at the Lulo alluvial diamond mine.
Two of Angola’s largest diamonds, including a 404-carat pure diamond, have previously come from the Lulo mine. In the mine, where 27 diamonds weighing 100 carats or more have been unearthed, the pink gemstone is the seventh largest diamond of any kind.
The rare pink diamond will be sold through an international tender by the state-run Sodiam diamond marketing company in Angola. Due to its mines, Angola is one of the top 10 producers of diamonds worldwide.
“This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage for diamond mining and demonstrates the potential and rewards for commitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry,” Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s minister of mineral resources, petroleum and gas said, according to the Lucapa website.
Despite the enormous pink diamond, many clear diamonds weigh more than 1,000 carats. For example, the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905, is kept inside the British Sovereign’s Sceptre.