Alrosa has unearthed a 236 ct. piece of yellow-brown rough (pictured), the largest natural color rough diamond ever found in Russia.

The diamond was extracted from the Ebelyakh mine in Yakutia, Russia.

The diamond’s dimensions are 47 mm x 24 mm x 22 mm, and, according to preliminary estimates, it is between 120 million and 230 million years old.

Pavel Vinikhin, director of diamonds in the Russian diamond miner’s cutting and polishing division, said in a statement that the diamond has the potential to be several high-quality polished diamonds.

“Such a large natural color rough diamond is a unique discovery,” he added in the same statement. “Now the stone is at Alrosa’s United Selling Organization being studied and evaluated by our specialists. After that, we will decide whether to give it to our manufacturers for cutting or sell it as a rough. Of course, cutters in any country will be interested in such a diamond.”

Previously, several unique fancy color diamonds were unearthed at Ebelyakh, which is located and operated by Almazy Anabara, a subsidiary of Alrosa. In the summer of 2017, Alrosa mined three unique fancy color diamonds within a month: an intense yellow, a pink, and a purple-pink. All three stones were cut by Alrosa’s cutting division and presented as polished diamonds to the public. At the end of 2019, a yellow diamond called Firebird weighing 20.69 carats was sold to Graff Diamonds.

(Image courtesy of Alrosa)

Rob Bates

JCK News Director