A 131-carat diamond was uncovered from the Lulo mine, a 3,000 square km concession in Angola’s Lunda Norte diamond heartland.
The country’s state-owned diamond company Endiama announced this on Wednesday.
The diamond was found by Australia-based Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners in Lulo’s Block 19, 11 days after a 160-carat diamond was extracted from the same mine.
According to the company, this makes it the fourth diamond of over 100 carats to be discovered from the mine this year and the 29th overall.
The diamond located approximately 630 km east of the capital city Luanda, Lulo is the world’s 4th largest diamond mine.
It is a joint venture, Lucapa Diamond Company owns 40 per cent, Endiama has 32 per cent and the private Angolan company Rosas & Petalas owns 28 per cent.
The past decade’s exploration had proved that Lulo remained one of the world’s most prolific alluvial diamond fields.
In 2016, a 404.2-carat diamond extracted from Lulo, the biggest diamond found in Angola, was sold for $16 million or $39,580 per carat, a record price for a white diamond.
According to Endiama, diamond’s profit reached $34 million after being cut and transformed into jewellery.
The Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, said Angola had once again shown its “enormous’’ diamond potential.
“I am absolutely convinced that with discoveries of this nature, we will be, in the near future, among the biggest diamond producers in the world,’’ the minister said.
(Xinhua/NAN)
