One of the world's largest diamonds has been unearthed in Botswana, the country government said. The CNN reported that the 1,098-carat stone, believed to be the third largest "gem-quality" diamond ever found, was presented to President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Wednesday.
The discovery was made earlier this month at the Jwaneng mine, around 75 miles from the country's capital, Gaborone.
The mine is operated by Debswana, a diamond company jointly owned by Botswana's government and the De Beers Group, according to countries official website.
"Proceeds from the diamond will be used to advance national development in the country," the South African country government has tweeted. "Debswana should use this latest discovery as an inflection point, for the mine to use its technology to realize more of these large discoveries," it added.
Officially opened in 1982, the Jwaneng mine usually yields between 12.5 million and 15 million carats of diamonds a year, according to Debswana. This month's find is the largest gem unearthed by the company since diamonds were first discovered in Botswana in 1967, the government said.
At present, the largest diamond ever recorded is the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, found in South Africa in 1905. The Cullinan was subsequently cut into smaller stones, some of which form part of British royal family's crown jewels.
The second largest discovery is believed to be the Lesedi La Rona, a 1,109-carat stone found by Canadian firm Lucara Diamond at the Karowe mine, also in Botswana, in 2015. The diamond was sold to luxury jeweler Graff for $53 million two years later.
( With inputs from ANI )
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