Gem Diamonds Retrieves Another Five Big Stones

RAPAPORT… Gem Diamonds has recovered five large, high-quality stones at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho, continuing a strong first quarter for the company’s production.



The company unearthed four white diamonds weighing 88, 56, 53 and 33 carats between February 28 and March 3. It also found a “top-quality” 13-carat pink diamond.



Those are in addition to the recovery of a 114-carat stone the miner reported last week. It found a 183-carat, white, type IIa diamond last month.



The miner is ahead of where it was this time last year in terms of its large-stone recoveries. In 2019, Gem Diamonds didn’t find any stones over 100 carats until late March. During that year, the company unearthed a 13.33-carat pink diamond similar to the one it found last week. That stone sold to Graff for $8.8 million, fetching a record average price of $656,933 per carat for Gem Diamonds.

 

While the recovery of large stones bodes well for the company, it has had to cancel a rough tender that was set to take place in Israel from March 8 to 12 due to the coronavirus, the Israel Diamond Exchange reported. Its Belgium auction will proceed as planned.



Image: The six diamonds recovered between February 28 and March 3. (Gem Diamonds)