World’s Largest Diamond Found in 100 Years Goes Under the Hammer

A now famous three-billion-year-old diamond the size of a tennis ball found by Canada's Lucara Diamond (TSX:LUC) last year could fetch more than US$70 million (or about Cdn$90M) when it goes under Sotheby’s hammer this Wednesday in London.

The giant 1,109-carat rock, known as “Lesedi La Rona” or "our light" (in the Tswana language spoken in Botswana), was unearthed in November at Lucara’s Karowe mine.

The company’s CEO, William Lamb is urging the potential buyer of the massive rock, which could yield a flawless 400-carat gem or a 550-carat diamond with impurities to leave it untouched.

In its present form, the precious stone has “untold possibilities,” he told The Australian Tuesday.

Lesedi La Rona is a type IIa diamond, the largest discovered in 100 years, and second in size only to the Cullinan diamond in the British Crown jewels.

Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.