Origin of name
The diamond gets its name from its country of origin,
the tiny Kingdom of Lesotho, inside South Africa, where the diamond
was discovered at the Letseng diamond mine, high in the mountains of the
tiny nation. According to Lesotho's Minister of Natural Resources Mamphono
Khaketia, the name "Lesotho Promise" was chosen deliberately to reflect the
great promise held out by the previously abandoned diamond mine, for the
future. He told reporters while on his visit to Antwerp, Belgium, to attend
the sale of the massive diamond, "We promise
you more of the same and better in the future."
Characteristics of the stone
The Lesotho Promise is a 603-carat rough diamond
discovered at the Letseng diamond mine, in the tiny mountain Kingdom of
Lesotho, on August 22nd, 2006. It is the largest diamond to be recovered
from this mine, pushing the 601-carat Lesotho Brown, to second place,
another large diamond also recovered previously from the same mine. The
stone becomes the 15th largest rough diamond to be discovered in the world,
and the 10th largest white diamond ever to be found.
Another significant fact about the stone is that the Lesotho Promise is the
biggest rough diamond to be discovered in the world in 16 years, since the
discovery of the 777-carat Millennium Star rough diamond in Mbugi Mayi
district of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) in 1990. The Lesotho
Promise also becomes the largest reported find for this century (21st
century).
The rough stone is almost pyramidal in shape,
which may be appropriate for transformation into a heart-shaped diamond. The
stone is exceptionally colorless, with a color rating of D, even in the
rough state, the highest color rating for colorless diamonds
History
The Kingdom of Lesotho is an independent Kingdom in
Southern Africa, also known as Basutoland. The Kingdom is a tiny mountain
enclave , within the Republic of South Africa, surrounded by the three
provinces of Orange Free State, Kwa Zulu Natal, and Eastern Cape. The
Country has an area of 11,720 square miles (30,355 sq. km.). Being
surrounded by Southern Africa on all sides, Lesotho is dependent on South
Africa for access to the outside world. The lack of resources also make the
country economically dependent on South Africa.
Geological
surveys of the country had revealed little mineral resources, such as the
Uranium deposits near Teyateyaneng, about 30 miles (50 Km) northeast of
Maseru, and the Kimberlite pipes in the highlands, producing diamonds. A
diamond mine at Letseng-la-Terae in Mokhotiong, operated briefly for about
five years from 1977-1982. The mine was again re-opened after an agreement
was signed in June 1999, between the Lesotho Government and the Gem Diamond
Mining Company of Africa Limited. According to this agreement the Company's
interests in the mine was limited to 70 %, while the remaining 30 % was
owned by the Government.
Gem Diamond Mining Company
is headed by Clifford Elphick, a former adviser to the Oppenheimer family,
who also had a 40% stake in the diamond giant De Beers. The Letseng mine was
previously operated by De Beers, from 1977 to 1982. The Gem Diamond Mining
Company re-started operations at the mine in the year 2004.
The Lesotho Promise was discovered accidentally by a woman employee of the
company, who was just sorting through the rocks at the site of the mine.
"She started screaming and the rest of the staff thought she had been
electrocuted, and they ran there to see if she was okay. To everyone's
surprise they were instead confronted with her accidental discovery-the
Lesotho Promise." said Clifford Elphick.
The diamond was
dispatched to the Antwerp diamond center in Belgium, where the discovery of
the diamond was announced to the world on 4th October 2006, which
incidentally happens to be the day the Kingdom of Lesotho gained its
independence. Later the
diamond was put up for auction on 9th October 2006, but before submitting
bids, top diamond cutters and dealers of the world, were given several hours
to examine the stone. The auction followed a novel secret bidding procedure
in which prospective buyers were requested to submit written bids for the
diamond, and the highest bid was selected, provided it satisfied the
requirements of the owners. In other words it was similar to a tender
competition, and the honor of announcing the results of the tender
competition fell on none other than the Honourable Minister of Natural
Resources of Lesotho, Mamphono Khaketia, who flew in from Lesotho,
specifically for this occasion. The successful bidder for the stone was
the South African Diamond Corporation (SAFDICO), a subsidiary and
manufacturing arm of the internationally
renowned Graff Diamonds, who purchased the stone for $ 12.36 million.
The uncut diamond which is about a third bigger than a
golf ball is expected to be cut into a large heart-shaped diamond and
several smaller stones, before being sold.
Johnny Kneller of the South African Diamond Corporation,
said, that the stone had to be thoroughly scanned for at least three months
before deciding on the best possible diamonds to be cut from it. He also
said that giving the exact retail price of the diamond would be difficult,
but he hoped that it is going to be over US $ 20 million.
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