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World's Largest Diamond Was Found
By Alexander Maletin
At last, the largest diamond in the world had found a worthy
contender. Under preliminary forecasts of experts the weight
of the new diamond-champion is one 1.5 kg.
Before now the largest diamond in the world was the Cullinan
diamond. This diamond was found in the British province
Transvaal (nowadays the Republic of South Africa) in 1905.
The weight of the ex-champion Cullinan is 3106 carat (621.2
gr.). The diamond was named for Sir Thomas Cullinan, who had
discovered the Premier in Transvaal three years earlier. The
diamond amazes not only by its size but also its
cleanliness, absence of mineral inclusions, cracks, and
bubbles.
The Cullinan diamond was presented to the reigning British
monarch, King Edward VII, in 1907. It's interesting that
diamond represents a splinter (about 1/3 part) of larger
diamond, but it haven't found till now.
The diamond was cut into 9 large stones and about 100
smaller ones by I.J. Asscher and Company of Amsterdam. The
Cullinan diamond decorates the brow of the Imperial State
Crown of Great Britain about one hundred years.
The 7000-carat diamond (1.5 kg) was found in the
same country. Under armed guard the new diamond will be
delivered in Johannesburg, the capital of the Republic of
South Africa, where diamond will be determined its exact
weight and the size with a help of special technical
equipment.
What company possesses this precious find? It is not yet
announced. However, during all last century the leadership
in world production of diamonds belonged to giant De Beers
who supervised about 65 % of all diamond market till now.
Today the Republic of South Africa takes fifth place in
extraction of rough diamonds in the world, giving place only
to Australia, Botswana, Russia and Congo.
Russia also does not giving in a diamond race. So, the
diamond-mining company Alrosa has a quarter of world's
diamond mining.
In the beginning of August a big deposit of rough diamonds
was discovered in Yakutia. Russia's diamond giant Alrosa has
discovered a big deposit of rough diamonds in Yakutia. The
worth of its reserves is estimated at $3.5 billion. The
deposit of such extent was last discovered in Yakutia ten
years ago.
The new Verkhne-Munskoe deposit unites three kimberlite
pipes located 130 kilometers from Udachninsky Mining and
Processing Plant of Alrosa. The deposit is forecasted to
last for 25 years, yielding from 1.2 million tons to 2
million tons of stones.
In terms of geological survey, Alrosa has outmatched the
best indicators of former Soviet Union, the company
announced in the news release of April 2007. Nowadays, for
instance, Alrosa is setting up the 4th exploration
expedition in the northern part of Yakutia's diamond
province.
It is mentioned that Russia had became the first country in
volume of export of rough diamonds in 2005. To tell the
truth, the Russian Federation had taken the top position
only by physical volume of the diamonds taken out abroad.
The leader in the finance of export had become the Botswana
(25 % of world's diamond export). It is supposed that in
2007 Russia will increase considerably in turnover because
of the opening of new diamond fields.
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