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The kimberlite cluster is located around 110km north-east of a Finsch diamond mine.
Diamond mining company Botswana Diamonds has secured a five-year prospecting licence on ground containing the Reivilo cluster of kimberlites in Barkley West, South Africa.
The kimberlite cluster is located around 110km north-east of a Finsch diamond mine owned by Petra Diamonds.
According to an exploration by the previous licence holder, the area holds a delineated a cluster of three kimberlite pipes, all within a 250m radius.
The prospecting licence is effective until June 2027.
Botswana Diamonds chairman John Teeling said: “When the ground became recently available, we immediately applied for the area.
“Botswana Diamonds management have long been aware of the diamond potential of this ground, and so we are delighted to have finally been awarded this high-profile exploration ground and look forward to updating shareholders in the near future on developments.”
Botswana Diamonds plans to finalise its exploration programme after carrying out a review of all the available data on the Reivilo cluster.
The firm said in a statement: “Samples of the drilling core produced G10 and eclogitic garnets, which are the optimal indicators for diamondiferous kimberlites.”
In July this year, Botswana Diamonds purchased an additional stake in the prospective Maibwe joint venture (JV) in Botswana.
The company holds a 51.7% stake in Siseko Minerals, which increased its stake in the JV from 29% to 50%.
At the time, Botswana Diamonds said it was involved in three companies focused on diamond exploration in Botswana, as well as owned assets in South Africa.
Maibwe currently holds 11 prospecting licences in Botswana’s area of the Kalahari Desert, which include several kimberlite pipes.
In October 2019, Botswana Diamonds received a mining permit for gravels and unprocessed stockpiles around the Marsfontein mine in South Africa via its associate, Vutomi Mining.
Lucapa Diamond Company has recovered a 160-carat, high-quality rough from its Lulo mine in Angola, the sixth-largest stone the deposit has yielded.
The company found the type IIa diamond at the same alluvial mining block from which it unearthed a 170-carat pink — the Lulo Rose — in July, Lucapa said last week. The new addition marks the 28th diamond over 100 carats from Lulo.
Recently, Lucapa transitioned to mining rough from the lezirias, or flood plain area, of the site, which has led to the recovery of larger diamonds, it said. In the past two months, the miner has found more than 100 special stones — those weighing over 10.8 carats — at the deposit, including four type IIa rough diamonds weighing 99, 81, 74 and 66 carats.
oronto-listed Mountain Province Diamonds will next week put on sale an “exceptional” coloured rough diamond, which it recovered from the Gahcho Kué mine, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
The diamond, a 151.60 t octahedron of exceptional clarity, will be offered for sale alongside a selection of more than 90 individual special rough diamonds recovered from the company’s Canadian diamond mine.
The upcoming sale represents the biggest offering of +10.8 ct gem quality diamonds offered by the company to date.
“This important diamond represents a clear example of the Gahcho Kué mine’s ability to consistently recover high-quality gems of exceptionally large size. These gems are highly coveted by collectors around the globe not only for their beauty but increasingly, for their Canadian origin,” commented VP for diamond marketing ReidMackie.
11.15-Carat Internally Flawless Pink Diamond Could Fetch $21 Million
11.5-carat Williamson Pink Star diamond
The second largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond to ever appear at auction was unveiled Wednesday in London by Sotheby’s. The 11.15-carat Williamson Pink Star will be sold in a single-lot auction in Hong Kong on October 5. Its estimate is $21 million.
The auction house says it has the potential to set a new per carat price record for a fancy vivid pink diamond.
“We do have the confidence that it will find a great collector and have the interest of multiple parties,” Wenhao Yu, chairman of Jewellery and Watches at Sotheby’s Asia, told Forbes on Tuesday. “It has the potential to reach a very strong price.”
He adds, “This diamond truly checks all the boxes. It has the best qualities you can have in a pink diamond.”
The current price per carat auction record for a fancy vivid pink diamond is $2,656,909 for the 18.96-carat Winston Pink Legacy, sold in 2018 by Christie’s Geneva. The largest internally flawless, fancy vivid pink diamond offered at auction is the 59.60-carat CTF Pink Star. It was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2017 for $71.2 million, a world record for any gem or jewel sold at auction.
Yu compares the Williamson Pink Star to an exceptional work of art.
“We timed this lot to be offered between Sotheby’s modern and contemporary art auctions. That’s because instead of offering just another important diamond, we view this diamond as a work of art from mother earth and a wonder of nature,” Yu says. “It’s comparable to a Monet or a Picasso and is even more rare.”
The Williamson Pink Star is the second largest internally flawless fancy vivid pink diamond
The Williamson mine is one of the oldest operating diamond mines in the world, famous for producing what is described as “bubblegum” pink diamonds, according to the auction house. One of the best-known diamonds from the mine is the 23.6-carat Williamson Pink Diamond fashioned into a brooch by Cartier and owned by Queen Elizabeth II.
“We wanted to relate the important provenance of the Williamson mine when naming the diamond,” Yu says. “The unique saturated pink color is one of the important qualities of diamonds from this mine. It is an honor for us that after so many decades another important pink diamond comes from the Williamson mine and we can offer it at auction.”
The cushion-shaped diamond was crafted from a 32.32-carat rough diamond by Diacore, a diamond manufacturer that specializes in crafting rare, exceptional fancy-colored diamonds. The company purchased the gem in late 2021 for $13.8 million. Yu says crafting the diamond is just as important as discovering it, and Diacore is one of the few companies in the world capable of cutting and polishing such an important gem.
The Williamson Pink Star is mounted in an 18k gold ring flanked by trapeze
“Not every rough can yield a diamond of this high quality so we should also give credit to Diacore,” he says. “They really made cutting and polishing into an art. They are very skilled and experienced with the best technology and a lot of courage. It’s rare to have a vivid pink color. It’s rarer when it’s over 10 carats and even more rare if it’s internally flawless. It’s luck to find this kind of diamond that was formed underground for millions of years, and it takes a great amount of art and creativity to fashion it into a gorgeous stone with so many exceptional qualities.”
Pink diamonds are among the rarest colors to occur naturally in diamonds. Of all the diamonds submitted to the Gemological Institute of America (which analyzes and grades diamonds), fewer than 3% are classified as colored diamonds, and fewer than 5% of those are considered predominantly pink.
The Argyle Mine in Australia, before it was retired in 2020 after exhausting its supply of gem-quality diamonds, produced more than 90% of the world’s pink diamonds. The absence of pink diamonds from this mine makes important pink diamonds like the one being offered even more rare, Yu says.
“Pink diamonds are still growing in demand in the market, and this now makes the Williamson Pink Star even more sought after,” he says.
The diamond is being presented in an 18k gold ring flanked by trapeze-cut diamonds and embellished with brilliant-cut diamonds.
London is the first stop where the diamond will be viewed by the public. It will then travel to Dubai, Singapore and Taipei before the final viewing and sale in Hong Kong.
