The 170-carat pink diamond found at the Lulo mine groups together particularly rare and pure stones.
by Lusa
The mining company Lucapa Diamond Company announced this Wednesday that it had discovered a pure pink diamond in a mine in Angola, which it believes is the largest discovered in the last 300 years, receiving the name ‘Rosa do Lulo’.
According to a statement from Lucapa, Endiama and Rosas & Pétalas, partners in Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo, sent to Lusa, the 170-carat diamond found in mine do Lulo, in northeast Angola, is one of the largest rosa ever discovered and joins the two largest diamonds ever discovered in Angola, also in this mine.
The “historic” discovery of this type IIa diamond, which groups together particularly rare and pure stones, was welcomed by the Angolan government, the mine’s partner: “This record and spectacular pink diamond from Lulo continues to show that Angola is a important player in the world scenario of diamond extraction”, said the Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources, Diamantino Azevedo.
The stone will be sold at international auctions and is expected to fetch an extremely high price.
Although “Rosa do Lulo” still needs to be cut and polished to reach its full value – a process in which a stone can lose 50% of its weight, similar pink diamonds have fetched skyrocketing prices in the past.
In 2017, the 59.6 carat “Pink Star” diamond was auctioned in Hong Kong for US$71.2 million, around €70 million, and remains, so far, the most expensive diamond in history.