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Lucapa Diamond Company has sold the record-breaking 404.2-carat diamond, which it recovered earlier this month in Angola, for $16m (£11.5m).
The selling price of $39,580 (£28,574) per carat is a record price for a white diamond recovered at the Lulo mine, with the company saying it is “further evidence of the positive sentiment in the market for large high-quality gems”.
The type IIa D-colour diamond is believed to the the 27th largest diamond ever recovered, and broke records as the largest diamond to ever be discovered in Angola and the biggest diamond to be discovered by an Australian company.
Stephen Wetherall, chief executive of the company, said: “The sale of a single diamond for $16m (£11.5m) underlines the huge potential of the Lulo diamond field to regularly produce gems which are both large and of world class quality.
“We look to the future with tremendous excitement at Lulo as we continue mining these exceptional alluvial diamond areas, growing our alluvial mining capability and advancing the kimberlite exploration programme to locate the primary source or sources of these gems.”
The previous largest diamond to be recovered at Lulo weighed 133.4 carats.