Shiny!

 

It's been announced that the second-largest gem diamond in the world has been discovered in Botswana.

The second-largest diamond ever found - a rough 2,492-carat stone - has been unearthed in Botswana at a mine owned by Canadian firm Lucara Diamond.

It is the biggest find since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.

The diamond was found at Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of Botswana's capital, Gaborone.

Botswana's government said it was the largest diamond ever discovered in the southern African state.

The previous biggest discovery in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone found at the same mine in 2019.

There's more at the link.

What fascinates me is that the Cullinan diamond had eight surfaces.  Four of them were smooth, showing that the diamond had once been part of what is estimated to have been a much larger stone.  Natural forces (which must have been immense) had sheared it along those planes, separating it from its parent stone.  That means the larger diamond must still be out there somewhere, unless it had been crushed by the same natural forces way back when.  Following the Cullinan diamond's discovery, there was a rush to find its parent stone, but without success.  I'm told there were miners who spent the rest of their lives in search of the "biggie", to perpetual disappointment.  I'd love to know how big it might have been, and what it looked like;  but so far, nobody knows.

You can read a detailed history of the Cullinan diamond here;  and if you're ever in Cape Town, South Africa, where I was born and raised, the Diamond Museum there has a full-size replica of the stone as originally discovered (plus several other well-known diamonds).  It's worth a visit.

Peter