Nature & Environment

Giant blue diamond unearthed in South Africa

By T.K. Randall
January 22, 2014 ·  17 comments

A selection of Cullinan diamonds. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 deror_avi The remarkable blue 29.6-carat diamond was extracted by Petra Diamonds and could be worth almost $20 million. Blue diamonds are more rare and valuable than regular diamonds with Cullinan mine being one of the world's best known sources."This stone is one of the most exceptional stones recovered at Cullinan during Petra's operation of the mine," said a company spokesman. "The stone is an outstanding vivid blue with extraordinary saturation, tone and clarity, and has the potential to yield a polished stone of great value and importance."

A similar diamond was unearthed back in 2009 and fetched $10 million at auction. The mine was also the place from which the famous 'Star of Africa' blue diamond originated, a 530-carot stone that was presented to King Edward VII and ended up as part of Britain's crown jewels.

Source: BBC News | Comments (17)

Tags: Diamond