The stone is described as having an “natural and intense yellow-brown colour” and was mined at the Ebelyakh deposit in the remote region of Yakutia. It is estimated at between 120 and 230 million years old.
Pavel Vinikhin, director of diamond cutting and polishing, Alrosa, said, “Such a large natural colour rough diamond is a unique discovery. Now, the stone is at Alrosa’s United Selling Organization being studied and evaluated by our specialists. After that, we will decide whether to give it to our manufacturers for cutting, or sell it as a rough.
“Of course, cutters in any country will be interested in such a diamond, as it has the potential to give several high quality polished diamonds.”
Ebelyakh has produced several other fancy colour diamonds; in 2017, three notable stones – an intense yellow, pink, and purple-pink – were unearthed at the site within one month. All were cut in-house by Alrosa before being offered for sale.
Verkhne-Munskoye, another Yakutia deposit, produced a 17.4-carat yellow diamond in February this year.
While fancy colour diamonds currently account for less than 0.1 per cent of Alrosa’s total output, it has previously indicated that it intends to become the world’s premier source of fancy colour stones.
Earlier this year, Vinikhin told Russian news service TASS: “[Following] the closure of the Argyle Mine in Australia, we will become the world’s largest producer of coloured diamonds and can therefore go after leadership in the coloured diamond market.”
An analysis by the Fancy Color Research Foundation recently determined that prices for pink diamonds had increased by 116 per cent over the past 10 years; yellow diamond prices rose by 21 per cent and blue diamond prices 81 per cent.
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Colour diamonds: The fairest of them all
Pink diamond prices increase 116 per cent