Massive pink diamond of 38.6 carat
Australian Lucapa Diamond has unearthed yet another massive, this time a 38.6-carat pink diamond, at its Lulo project in Angola. The coloured stone is the largest “fancy” pink diamond recovered to date from Lulo, surpassing the 28.5-carat, said the company, which sold it earlier this week as part of a parcel of other rocks for a total of $5.8 million.
The Lulo diamond project, located 150km from Alrosa’s Catoca mine, the world’s fourth largest diamond mine, hosts type-2a diamonds which account for less than 1% of global supply. The 38.6-carat pink diamond was sold earlier this week as part of a parcel of other rocks for a total of $5.8 million.
Lucapa holds a 35-year license for the project, which recently bore a 404.2-carat white diamond, considered the largest diamond ever recovered in Angola and the biggest diamond ever found by an Australian company.
Angola is the world’s No.4 diamond producer by value and No.6 by volume. Its industry, which began a century ago under Portuguese colonial rule, is successfully emerging from a long period of difficulty as a result of a civil war that ended in 2002.
Sylvain Goldberg knows Angola and it’s diamond mines very well. He has been exporting rough diamonds from Angola since 1994. Through hard work and excellent networking his company became the largest exporter of rough diamonds from that country. Despite the attitude of some competitors who didn’t hesitate to deal with local – brutal – warlords in order to undercut the regular price, Sylvain has always only worked through government approved channels. He never dealt in blood diamonds.
Earlier this year, the Angolan government reduced taxes and cut state ownership requirements to rekindle the industry after the global financial crisis forced mines to close.
The world’s biggest pink diamond found to date was unearthed at Rio Tinto’s Argyle mine, weighing 13 carats
“Over the years, some members of the diamond industry have had a devastating impact in countries such as Angola, where profits from the sale of diamonds have been used to fund brutal wars, with disastrous effects on local communities.”
Sylvain Goldberg – I have always been keenly aware of the enormous potential of the Angolan diamond mines
