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Firestone Finds 134-Carat Yellow Diamond
The company, which has been mining diamonds in Lesotho since 2011, said this is its biggest recovery so far.
London--Miner Firestone Diamonds Plc reported this week that it is has found its biggest rough diamond to date, a 134-carat stone.
The gem-quality diamond, described by the company as “light yellow,” was recovered from the company’s Liqhobong Diamond Mine in Lesotho, a small kingdom located within South Africa.
A photo was not available by press time.
Lesotho has yielded a number of large, high-quality rough diamonds over the years. In 2017 alone, Gem Diamonds reports that it has found six stones over 100 carats at the Letšeng Mine it operates in cooperation with the government there; five of them were gem-quality.
Firestone Diamonds has its headquarters in London and is publicly traded on AIM, a sub-market of the London Stock Exchange for smaller companies.
It has mined in Lesotho since 2011, after it acquired Liqhobong from Kopane Diamonds for $71 million. It operates the mine in a 75-25 percent partnership with the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Firestone also has the BK11 mine in Orapa, Botswana but that has been on care and maintenance since February 2012.
Of finding the 134-carat diamond, the company said: “The board believes this recovery, the second of over 100 carats since production commenced, reinforces the potential for large stones at Liqhobong as the company continues early-stage mining.”
The company found a 110-carat gem-quality light yellow diamond at Liqhobong earlier this year.
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