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Nearly 48-Carat ‘Pink Eternity’ Diamond Recovered From Kao Mine
It’s the largest pink diamond found at the Lesotho mine to date, according to Storm Mountain Diamonds.
The 47.80-carat “Pink Eternity” rough diamond, recently uncovered at the Kao mine in Lesotho
Maseru, Lesotho—Storm Mountain Diamonds has announced the recovery of a nearly 48-carat rough pink diamond from its Kao mine in Lesotho.
Dubbed the “Pink Eternity,” the 47.80-carat stone is the largest pink diamond unearthed at Kao to date, the company confirmed.
The diamond already has been sold, though the company said details about the buyer and sale price cannot be released at this time.
Colonel Jack Scott and his exploration team discovered the Kao kimberlite in the mid- to late 1950s.
Artisanal miners and organized cooperatives mined it until 2006, when Kao Diamond Mines Ltd. acquired the mining lease from the Lesotho government.
The company struggled with poor production, exporting only about 7,000 carats over three years, ran into financial trouble and eventually liquidated in 2009.
Storm Mountain Diamonds took over the mining lease in 2010, according to its website. The company is jointly owned by Namakwa Diamonds Ltd. and the Government of Lesotho.
The past couple years have seen the recovery of some notable stones from the mine, including the 23.82-carat “Lesotho Storm,” the 25.97-carat “Pink Dawn,” the 29.65-carat “Rose of Kao,” and the 21.86-carat “Pink Palesa.”
Big, polished pink diamonds have been doing exceptionally well at auction of late, including the recent sale of the fancy vivid pink diamond called the “Williamson Pink Star,” from the Williamson mine in Tanzania.
The 11.15-carat stone sold for $57.7 million at Sotheby’s Hong Kong earlier this month.
With a per-carat sale price of roughly $5.2 million, the pink diamond set a new price-per-carat record for any diamond or gemstone sold at auction.
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