Rare spectacular pink diamond is the largest discovered in 300 years

Miners have discovered a rare pink diamond in Angola, Central Africa. It is believed to be the largest found in 300 years.

The 'Lulo Rose'

The 170-carat pink gemstone weighs 34 grams and is a type 2a diamond, meaning it has few or no impurities. It has been named 'Lulo Rose,' after the Lulo alluvial mine in which it was discovered. The term alluvial means it was found in a riverbed.

The mine has already been the source of two of the largest diamonds ever discovered in Angola, which includes a 404-carat clear diamond. Found in February 2016 and called the '4th February Stone,' it sold for $16 million, as reported by CNN. This latest find is the fifth-largest diamond discovered at the site.

Pink diamonds are 'extremely rare'

However, coloured diamonds could sell for even more. Pink diamonds are very rare and their more complicated structure means it can take three to four times as long to cut and polish them, according to Capetown Diamond Museum.

The chief executive of Lucapa Diamond Company, the Australian company which owns the mine, Stephen Wetherall said:

Only one in 10,000 diamonds is coloured pink. And only one in every 100 diamonds is greater than 10.8 carats in size, so recovering a 170-carat pink diamond means we are dealing with an extremely rare article.

For example, the 'Pink Star' sold at a Hong Kong auction for $71.2m (£59m) in 2017, as reported by the BBC. However, it is impossible to speculate how much the Lulo Rose will sell for until it's cut, according to independent fine jewellery specialist Joanna Hardy.

The mines in Angola are some of the top producers of diamonds in the world, according to CNN. Angola’s mineral resources minister, Diamantino Azevedo, said according to the Lucapa website:

This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage for diamond mining and demonstrates the potential and rewards for commitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry

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