507.55
Petra Diamonds Limited, the international diamond mining group, announces the recovery of an important 507.55 carat white diamond at the Cullinan mine in South Africa.
Spectacular 507 carat white diamond
This spectacular gemstone was recovered on Thursday 24 September and is currently with experts for analysis. Initial examinations indicate that it is of exceptional colour and clarity, and most likely to be a Type II diamond. Further details, including colour grading and clarity, will be released once the diamond has undergone appropriate analysis.
The diamond was recovered alongside three other special white stones of similar colour and clarity in the same production run: another very large stone of 168.00 carats and two other stones of 58.50 and 53.30 carats.
At 507 carats (just over 100 grams) the diamond, which has yet to be named, is considered to be amongst the top 20 largest high quality rough diamonds ever found worldwide and ranks alongside other illustrious diamonds recovered at the celebrated Cullinan mine.
Cullinan has a special place in the history of diamonds as the source of the world’s largest gem diamond ever recovered, the ‘Cullinan’, at 3,106 carats rough. It has also produced a further two of the world’s largest diamonds, the Golden Jubilee at 755 carats rough and the Centenary at 599 carats rough, and many other famous gems including the Taylor-Burton (69 carats polished).
Johan Dippenaar, Petra’s Chief Executive Officer, commented on the find, "The Cullinan mine has again given the world a spectacularly beautiful and important diamond. Initial indications are that it is of exceptional colour and clarity, which suggest extraordinary potential for its polished yield. We now eagerly await the findings of the expert analysis."
SOURCE
PHOTO: Courtesy of Petra Diamonds
If you are buying diamonds
News:
The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) has created literature which will help elucidate the phenomenon of ultraviolet fluorescence in diamonds, more effectively in its grading reports.
The information will describe fluorescence and its properties, and will appear in every GIA Diamond Grading Report and Diamond Dossier® that carries a diamond fluorescence description of medium or stronger.
The five terms GIA uses to classify the intensity of the fluorescence are: None, Faint, Medium, Strong, and Very Strong – and will be used only as an identification characteristic – not as a grade, explained Thomas M. Moses, GIA’s senior vice president of Laboratory and Research.
Example
Source: GIA
Sunny. Thursday. London. Afternoon,
and I am sitting behind my oval green marble (still figuring it out if it is!) dining table, drinking my favourite Organic Dragon Well Supreme Green Tea - from Jing tea (Edward Eisler is a genious in my mind), and looking for a job (which is a full time job already – hey, M!), when this email came to me announcing, that:
“…Diamond production from Australia increased by 9% to 18.022 million cts during the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, reports say, of which, 92 %was exported.
The value of exports however decreased by 24% to $399 million as the average diamond price fell to $24 per ct.
The total volume of exports in the current fiscal was flat at 16.618 million carats…” Good and bad news at once...
All just reminded me how beautiful & rare natural Pink Diamonds are!
pinkpinkpink
And a bit of a Gemmology for you :
These diamonds can be considered as the "purest of the pure" - they contain no, or minuscule amounts of impurities and are usually colorless.
Unless, that is, the carbon tetrahedrons that make up the diamond were twisted and bent out of shape while the diamond rose to the surface of the earth. An imperfect carbon lattice will make the diamond absorb some light, which will give it a yellow, brown or even pink or red color.
1-2% of diamonds belong to Type 2a.
What is your favourite stone?
Have a nice day!