Almazy Anabara, a subsidiary of Russian mining company Alrosa, has unearthed a pink rough diamond weighing 27.85 cts. in its Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) deposits.
It’s a doozy of a discovery for the company, which is based in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. Colored diamonds over 10 cts. are rare in the deposits—they’re recovered only once a year or so.
In the past eight years, Alrosa’s found just three pink diamonds weighing over 2 cts., and the largest pink rough diamond the company had ever unearthed weighed 3.86 cts. (discovered in Almazy Anabara in 2012).
If the company decides to cut the mega diamond, it could become the most expensive polished diamond in the history of Alrosa.
The company said in a statement that the stone, which is 22.47mm x 15.69mm x 10.9mm, is of gem-quality and is nearly inclusion-free.
Experts from the United Selling Organization of Alrosa and the company’s polishing division, Diamonds Alrosa, are currently examining the pink stone to make the decision of whether to auction the stone as a rough gem or cut it into a polished diamond.
Alrosa is the world’s largest producer of uncut diamonds; in 2016, it produced 37.4 million cts. of rough diamonds.
(Top: The 27.85 ct. pink diamond recently found by Alrosa, courtesy of Alrosa)
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