Lucara described the stone as "one of the largest rough diamonds ever unearthed."
"We are ecstatic about the recovery of this extraordinary 2,492-carat diamond," said Lucara’s head, William Lamb. The discovery was made using Lucara's advanced Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology, which has been in use since 2017 to detect and preserve high-value diamonds during the ore-crushing process.
The newly discovered diamond is yet to be fully assessed, so its quality and potential yield remain unknown. However, its size is comparable to the 3,106-carat Cullinan Diamond, the largest ever found, which was discovered in South Africa nearly 120 years ago.
This find surpasses the previous record in Botswana, a 1,758-carat diamond also recovered from the Karowe mine in 2019. Botswana is one of the world’s leading diamond producers, contributing about 20% of global diamond production.