TechnologyMay 01, 2026
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SourcingSep 16, 2014
Blue diamond nets $28M but falls short of record
The 122.52-carat blue diamond recovered from the Cullinan mine sold for $27.6 million to a beneficiation partnership between the company that mined it, Petra Diamonds Ltd., and a “polishing partner” that wishes to remain anonymous.
Petra Diamonds Ltd. sold the 122.52-carat blue diamond it pulled out of the Cullinan mine in June for $27.6 million to a beneficiation partnership between Petra (15 percent) and an unnamed “polishing partner” (85 percent).
London--The 122.52-carat blue diamond recovered from the Cullinan mine sold for $27.6 million to a beneficiation partnership between the company that mined it, Petra Diamonds Ltd., and a “polishing partner” that wishes to remain anonymous.
The sale price works out to $225,269 per carat.
While the stone fetched a high price, it did not set a new world record price for a rough diamond, as some analysts speculated it might. The world record price paid for a rough diamond stands at $35.3 million.
The stone will be cut and polished. Upon its sale, Petra will receive its 15 percent share in the proceeds, after beneficiation and related expenses.
The partner will settle its 85 percent of the agreed value immediately and Petra will count this as revenue in its fiscal results for the first quarter 2015.
A Petra spokesperson said that it followed its usual tender sales process for the diamond in Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as invited interested parties to submit partnership bids. He added that the benefits of this partnership are that not only does it yield a significant price for the rough stone but it allows Petra to share in the value of the stone when it’s polished.
The company has gone this route before, when Petra formed a partnership with Sotheby’s to cut and polish a 26-carat blue diamond that was subsequently sold at auction as a 7-carat polished gem.
Petra acquired the Cullinan mine in 2008. Since then, it has produced a number of big diamonds and is considered one of the world’s top sources of blue diamonds.
Just last week, Petra extracted an exceptional 232.08-carat white diamond from Cullinan, a D color Type IIa diamond of “exceptional size and clarity,” according to the company.
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