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327-Carat Diamond Sells for Nearly $31K a Carat
It was one of the lots offered in diamond mining company Lucara’s “Exceptional Stone Tender.”
Lucara Diamond Corp. found this 327.48-carat diamond at its Karowe Mine in Botswana this spring. This week, an unnamed buyer paid $10.1 million, or nearly $31,000/carat, for the stone at tender.
Vancouver, British Columbia--A 327.48-carat diamond recovered from a mine in Botswana has sold for $10.1 million, or $30,900 per carat.
It was the highest-grossing lot in a tender of exceptional diamonds mined by Lucara Diamond Corp., though its per-carat price fell well short of the per-carat world record for a diamond set by another Lucara-mined stone, the 812.77-carat Constellation. That diamond sold for nearly $78,000 per carat in May 2016.
The 327-carat stone, found by Lucara at the Karowe mine in April and described as being “top white” in color, was one of two rough diamonds weighing more than 300 carats sold as part of the company’s 12th tender of exceptional stones, the results of which were announced last week.
The other 300-carat-plus diamond included in the sale was 472.37 carats. That diamond (pictured below) was the largest in the sale and also found a buyer, though Lucara declined to provide details on its purchase price. 
All told, Lucara’s Exceptional Stone Tender totaled $32.48 million and averaged $22,356 per carat. Excluding the sale of the 472-carat diamond, which is “top light brown” as opposed to white in color, the tender’s average was $30,712 per carat.
Lucara said it sold all 10 lots it offered, and each one went for more than $1 million, with four diamonds selling for more than $3 million each.
Commenting on the sale, CEO Eira Thomas said: “Lucara is very pleased with the outcome of EST12, which was comprised of diamonds produced during 2018, including several diamonds recovered from the EM/PK(S) unit during February and April this year. The quality of Karowe’s large diamonds continues to attract the attention of the world’s foremost manufacturers and diamantaires, with 29 companies attending the sale and eight individual companies winning lots.”
Thomas took over as CEO of Lucara in February, replacing the retiring William Lamb.
Vancouver-based Lucara operates the Karowe Mine in Botswana, the mine that produced the second largest rough diamond ever found, weighing 1,109 carats. Graff Diamonds paid $53 million for the stone in September 2017.
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