The London Stock Exchange (LSE)-listed company, which operates six diamond mines in Africa found the precious stone at its Cullinan mine, one out of the five it has in South Africa. It also operates a mine in Tanzania.
“The stone is a D colour Type II diamond of exceptional size and clarity, and is a magnificent example of the large, high quality diamonds for which the mine is known,” said Petra Diamonds in a statement.
The new find is not Petra’s largest ever, as it unearthed a 507-carat diamond in 2009 from the same mine, fetching the Jersey-headquartered company a
record $35.3 million. The mine however holds even better history, as a 3106-carat diamond, the world’s biggest, was discovered there in 1905, ending up as part of British crown jewels. Cullinan is also home to blue diamonds.
Petra Diamonds spokeswoman, Cathy Malins said analysts had forecast that the company’s new find, which will be sold on auction between October and December, the second quarter of the company’s financial year, could fetch between $10 million and $20 million.
The miner has recorded huge finds this year following the sale of a 29.6 carat blue diamond in February, to the American luxury jeweller Cora International in February for $25.6 million. The sale of a rare 122.52-carat blue diamond found in June is also expected to fetch Petra more than $35 million.
Petra Diamonds, whose shares on the LSE jumped 8 percent after the news of the find, is expected to announce its unaudited Preliminary Results for the year ended 30 June 2014 (FY 2014) on September 18 2014.
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