Russia’s diamond titan Alrosa recovers giant gem-quality stone in Far North
The world’s largest diamond miner by volume, Russia’s Alrosa, has revealed a huge light yellow rough diamond weighing almost 118.91 carats at its deposit in the northeastern region of Yakutia.
The precious stone, unearthed earlier this month, is the biggest discovery among the gemstone-quality diamonds at the company’s ‘International’ mine over the past two years. A similar 109.61 carat gem was extracted at the same deposit in the summer of 2017.
The latest discovery is nearly a perfect example of a light yellow rough diamond, which has “salient edges, one of them with cleavage, and small inclusions in the central zone,” according to Alrosa’s press-release.
“This crystal is unique as it has a large clean area despite the inclusions in the center – this makes it a gem-quality diamond,” Evgeny Agureev, member of the management board and director of the United Selling Organization at Alrosa, said.
According to the top-executive, the ‘International’ diamond deposit is well-known for diamonds of hallmark shape and purity. The mine regularly brings octahedron shaped diamonds with smooth edges.
Alrosa may name the newly-mined gem ‘Zarya’ (‘Dawn’) as the crystal was extracted on the eve of launching a new diamond field carrying the same name at the company’s Aykhal Mining and Processing Plant.
Opened in 1969, the ‘International’ deposit is currently the world leader in high-quality diamond content. The average content in different periods of mining reached 12 carats per ton. This is reportedly the world's largest carat content per ton of ore.
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