Diamonds might be a girl’s best friend, but a flawless blue diamond means best friends forever! Petra Diamonds Limited (LON:PDL) (OTCMKTS:PDMDF) announced the discovery of a spectacular 29.6 carat blue diamond yesterday. The diamond is reported as a vivid blue with extraordinary tone and clarity, and is likely to be worth tens of millions of dollars as a polished stone. The company said the rare gem was unearthed almost a month ago at the famous Cullinan Mine near Pretoria, South Africa.
Value of new blue diamond
Petra Diamonds Limited (LON:PDL) (OTCMKTS:PDMDF) CEO Johan Dippenaar told Reuters in an interview that the latest discovery could be worth a good bit more than other recent notable diamond finds. “By some margin … this is probably the most significant stone we’ve ever, in terms of blue stones, recovered,” Dippenaar elaborated. “The stones in the last year or so are selling well above $2 million per carat. That’s not my quote, that’s updates in the market.”
History of the Cullinan mine
The Cullinan Diamond Mine is named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the original owner of the mine. The mine was called the Premier Mine until it was renamed in 2003 as part of the centenary celebration of the mine. The mine is perhaps most famous for being the place where the gargantuan 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in 1905. The world-renowned Cullinan diamond remains the largest rough gem diamond ever discovered. The melon-sized gem was eventually cut into nine pieces, the largest two pieces — the Great Star of Africa and the Second Star of Africa — ending up as part of the U.K. Crown Jewels.
A 25.5 carat blue diamond was also unearthed at the Cullinan mine last year, and later sold at auction for $16.9 million. A magnificent flawless diamond known as the Star of Josephine was also found at the mine in 2008, and cleared the gavel a year later for $9.49 million.
