Flawless largest purple-pink diamond expected to fetch over $25 mn at Hong Kong auction

 

A 15.81 carat Sakura diamond, the largest of its kind to ever appear for sale, will go under the hammer at Christie’s upcoming Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels Live Auction on May 23, the auction house announced on Tuesday. Estimated at $25 million to $38 million, the “fancy vivid purple pink internally flawless” diamond will be the star highlight of the sale.

It is the diamond’s exceptional rarity, extraordinary optical transparency, brilliant colour, and enormous size that make it an immensely important, and eternal masterpiece of nature.

As fewer than 10 per cent of pink diamonds weigh more than one-fifth of a carat, this fancy vivid purple-pink diamond is of an unprecedented size of 15.81 carats, which is the largest of its kind Fancy Vivid Purple Pink to be offered at any auction.

It added that the lot fell in the exclusive group of the four per cent of pink diamonds that possess a colour deep enough to qualify as “fancy vivid”.

This magnificent gem is graded ‘fancy vivid’ for its perfect display of strong saturation and remarkable pink hue with a secondary colour of purple, resembling the fascinating colour of cherry blossoms – appropriately coinciding with spring.

Source: DCLA

Flawless largest purple-pink diamond expected to fetch over $25 mn at Hong Kong auction

 

A 15.81 carat Sakura diamond, the largest of its kind to ever appear for sale, will go under the hammer at Christie’s upcoming Hong Kong Magnificent Jewels Live Auction on May 23, the auction house announced on Tuesday. Estimated at $25 million to $38 million, the “fancy vivid purple pink internally flawless” diamond will be the star highlight of the sale.

It is the diamond’s exceptional rarity, extraordinary optical transparency, brilliant colour, and enormous size that make it an immensely important, and eternal masterpiece of nature.

As fewer than 10 per cent of pink diamonds weigh more than one-fifth of a carat, this fancy vivid purple-pink diamond is of an unprecedented size of 15.81 carats, which is the largest of its kind Fancy Vivid Purple Pink to be offered at any auction.

It added that the lot fell in the exclusive group of the four per cent of pink diamonds that possess a colour deep enough to qualify as “fancy vivid”.

This magnificent gem is graded ‘fancy vivid’ for its perfect display of strong saturation and remarkable pink hue with a secondary colour of purple, resembling the fascinating colour of cherry blossoms – appropriately coinciding with spring.

Source: DCLA

Three +100 carat diamonds recovered at Lucapa’s Lulo mine

 

Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners Endiama and Rosas & Petalas have announced the recovery of three +100 carat diamonds by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo from the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in Angola.

The 131-carat is a Type IIa D-colour diamond, the 118-carat is a brown diamond and the 133-carat stone is a lower-quality grey diamond.

Six +100 carat diamonds have been recovered from Mining Block 46 (MB46) in the last three months, reaffirming its recent elevation to the Lulo mining block with the best +100 carat diamond occurrence rate – one +100 carat diamond for every ~20,000 bcm’s of gravel.

The Canguige catchment and adjacent priority kimberlites are already the focus of the Project Lulo JV kimberlite exploration program, and the frequent recovery of large high-value diamonds underpins the prospectivity of this area.

Source: DCLA

Three +100 carat diamonds recovered at Lucapa’s Lulo mine

 

Lucapa Diamond Company and its partners Endiama and Rosas & Petalas have announced the recovery of three +100 carat diamonds by Sociedade Mineira Do Lulo from the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in Angola.

The 131-carat is a Type IIa D-colour diamond, the 118-carat is a brown diamond and the 133-carat stone is a lower-quality grey diamond.

Six +100 carat diamonds have been recovered from Mining Block 46 (MB46) in the last three months, reaffirming its recent elevation to the Lulo mining block with the best +100 carat diamond occurrence rate – one +100 carat diamond for every ~20,000 bcm’s of gravel.

The Canguige catchment and adjacent priority kimberlites are already the focus of the Project Lulo JV kimberlite exploration program, and the frequent recovery of large high-value diamonds underpins the prospectivity of this area.

Source: DCLA

Two diamonds weigh over 100 carats each found in eastern Angola’s mine

 

Dundo, Angola. Two diamonds, one 131-carat and the other 133-carat, were found in Angola’s Lulo mine in eastern Lunda Norte province, national diamond company Endiama announced here Friday.

The white colored gems were found in block 46 and 21 with more than 100 carats discovered in that mine, according to a note from Endiama.

Since the beginning of its exploration in 2010, the Lulo mine is known for its rare and high quality diamonds.

The mine’s blocks 6 and 8 are responsible for the production of 13 of the 15 stones with over 100 carats from Lulo mine, including the largest diamond ever found in Angola in 2016, with 404.2 carats.

The Lulo project, with a concession area of 3,000 square km, is operated within the scope of a partnership in which Endiama holds 32 percent, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited 40 percent, and the operator Rosas & Petalas 28 percent.

Source: DCLA

Two diamonds weigh over 100 carats each found in eastern Angola’s mine

 

Dundo, Angola. Two diamonds, one 131-carat and the other 133-carat, were found in Angola’s Lulo mine in eastern Lunda Norte province, national diamond company Endiama announced here Friday.

The white colored gems were found in block 46 and 21 with more than 100 carats discovered in that mine, according to a note from Endiama.

Since the beginning of its exploration in 2010, the Lulo mine is known for its rare and high quality diamonds.

The mine’s blocks 6 and 8 are responsible for the production of 13 of the 15 stones with over 100 carats from Lulo mine, including the largest diamond ever found in Angola in 2016, with 404.2 carats.

The Lulo project, with a concession area of 3,000 square km, is operated within the scope of a partnership in which Endiama holds 32 percent, Lucapa Diamond Company Limited 40 percent, and the operator Rosas & Petalas 28 percent.

Source: DCLA

Botswana Diamonds shares good news from Thorny River

Botswana Diamonds has announced that eleven diamonds and abundant kimberlitic indicators were recovered from drill samples at the recently discovered River Kimberlite pipe at Thorny River in South Africa.

John Teeling, Chairman, commented:

“The recovery of so many kimberlitic indicators and in particular diamonds, which are very rare to recover in small sample narrow reverse circulation drill holes is highly encouraging and bodes well for the potential commerciality of this exciting discovery”.

Following a detailed ground geophysical programme in October 2020, 6, six-inch percussion reverse circulation holes were drilled into the newly discovered River Kimberlite pipe.

A combined total of 39.5 m intersected kimberlite while an additional 55 m intersected a weathered kimberlite breccia.

Samples from these holes were taken at one metre intervals and twenty of these totalling about 500 kg were selected and submitted to an independent processing facility for assessment through screening, dense media separation and hand sorting.

11 Diamonds, 172 G10 pyrope garnets, 623 G9 pyrope garnets, 555 eclogitic garnets, 438 chromites and 268 chromium diopsides (clinopyroxene) were recovered at sizes between -1.0+0.3mm.

Recoveries of a specific mineral species were capped at 20 grains and thus this picture is a snapshot of the overall sample indicator content. Importantly, all the samples contained abundant kimberlitic indicators.

The diamonds are all notably of good colour and clarity and are of commercial quality and in high demand by the market. The diamonds were not weighed as the sample size was small and they are not representative of a possible population.

Pyrope garnets are common in peridotite xenoliths from kimberlite pipes, some of which are diamond-bearing. Pyrope found in association with diamond commonly has a Chromium Oxide content of three to eight percent which imparts a distinctive violet to deep purple colouration.

These are called G10 and G9 pyrope garnets. Eclogites typically result from high to ultrahigh pressure metamorphism of mafic rocks at low thermal gradients as they were subducted to the upper mantle in a subduction zone.

Garnets found in eclogitic xenoliths tend to have a deep orange colour. Diamonds in kimberlite come from both peridotitic and eclogitic xenoliths so the abundance of both types of garnet in this sample is noteworthy and this is supported by the recovery of diamonds from a relatively small drill sample.

Of significance too is that these diamonds are all of good colour and clarity. The next step is a detailed core drilling programme which is planned for the dry season.

Source: DCLA