Lucapa Diamond Company, a Western Australian business, has unearthed several pink diamonds during trial mining in a new area of its Lulo alluvial diamond project in Angola, southern Africa. A 0.2-carat intense fancy pink diamond was among the stones found in the area known as E46.
While these were not the first pink diamonds discovered at Lulo – a 4-carat pink stone was found during the E46 pre-production program in 2013 and two 14-carat pink stones were also subsequently uncovered – a company statement noted that the recent discovery suggested E46 “should include fancy-coloured diamonds as well as large, high-quality gems”.
A number of ‘special’ diamonds – described as those weighing more than 10.8 carats – were also found, including a 59-carat type I diamond and a 33-carat type IIa D-coloured stone.
As previously reported by Jeweller, Lucapa unearthed a 404-carat rough diamond at Lulo earlier this year, although in a different region.
“[The] significant quality, size and value of the diamonds being recovered … makes this [Lulo] one of the most unique diamond resources in the world,” a Lucapa spokesperson stated.
“Yellow and fancy yellow diamonds have also been recovered from sampling and production but they are not as rare as pink diamond production. The recovery of pink diamonds is very special as they are about 50 times more rare than whites in terms of global recovery.”
The spokesperson said that while it was difficult to determine Lulo’s specific resource potential for pink diamonds, “it is possible that one day we could recover a fairly large pink diamond”.
The recently discovered pink diamonds will be sold in Angola as part of Lulo’s regular sales process. A date is yet to be determined.
Increasing rarity
It is said that the Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia currently produces more than 90 per cent of the world’s pink diamond supply.
As previously reported by Jeweller, operator Rio Tinto extended the mine’s life in 2013 by moving from an open-pit mine to an underground operation.
However, it is widely acknowledged that the Argyle resource will soon deplete – a fact that has arguably increased the demand for pink diamonds and caused a rise in price.
As an example, Sotheby’s expects to fetch between US$28 million (AU$36.5 m) and US$38 million (AU$49.6 m) for a 15.38-carat pink diamond that will be auctioned at its upcoming Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale.
The stone, known as the Unique Pink, is understood to be the largest fancy vivid pink pear-shaped diamond ever offered at auction.
The diamond will go under the hammer in Geneva on 17 May.
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