Miners in Angola have extracted a rare pure pink diamond, considered the largest to have been discovered in the world in 300 years, the Australian company that mines the site announced on Wednesday.
The 170-carat diamond has been dubbed “the Rose of Lulo”, after the mine in northeast Angola where it was extracted. It is one of the largest pink diamonds ever discovered, the Lucapa Diamond Company said in a statement to investors.
The “historic” discovery of this type IIa diamond, a category that includes particularly rare and pure stones, was welcomed by the Angolan government, a partner in the mine. The stone will be sold at an international auction, probably at an astronomical price.
Although the “Rose of Lulo” will still need to be cut and polished to achieve its full value — a process in which a stone can lose 50 percent of its weight — similar pink diamonds have fetched record prices in the past.
In 2017, the 59.6-carat “Pink Star” diamond was auctioned in Hong Kong for US $71.2 million. It is still the diamond with the highest selling price in history.
