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Rio Tinto has announced the discovery of an extremely rare fancy colour diamond in Canada. | Source: Diavik Diamond Mine

Purple prize: Colourful diamond surprise in Canada

Posted June 23, 2025 | By Samuel Ord

Rio Tinto has announced the discovery of an extremely rare fancy colour diamond in Canada.

&lt;p&gt;In a social media post, the diamond producer announced the recovery of a 0.45 carat fancy colour purple diamond at the Diavik Mine in Canada.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Diavik diamonds are typically white, so this came as a surprise,&amp;rdquo; the post explained.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;The purple colour likely comes from a trace element such as hydrogen or a twist in the crystal lattice structure of the diamond.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;The shape of the rough diamond is known as a &amp;lsquo;makeable&amp;rsquo;, which means it will likely be cut into a single diamond.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The announcement comes following the unearthing of a rare 158-carat fancy colour &lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14007/Eye-catching-yellow-diamond-discovery" target="_blank"&gt;yellow diamond&lt;/a&gt; at the same site in April.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Diavik Mine is expected to close next year and generally produces white diamonds, with fewer than 1 per cent consisting of yellow fancy colour diamonds. Other notable stones include a 552-carat yellow diamond in 2018 and the 187-carat &lt;em&gt;Diavik Foxfire&lt;/em&gt; in 2015.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;More reading&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14136/Mediterranean-Blue-33-million-return-for-beautiful-blue-diamond" target="_blank"&gt;Mediterranean Blue: $33 million return for beautiful blue diamond&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14130/Record-breaking-diamond-unearthed-in-Russia" target="_blank"&gt;Record-breaking diamond unearthed in Russia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article2/14023/Pink-Diamonds-The-Thief-of-Hearts" target="_blank"&gt;Pink Diamonds: The Thief of Hearts&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14013/New-Sun-Massive-yellow-diamond-unveiled" target="_blank"&gt;New Sun: Massive yellow diamond unveiled&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14009/Harry-Winstons-rare-red-diamond-stuns-visitors" target="_blank"&gt;Harry Winston&amp;rsquo;s rare red diamond stuns visitors&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14007/Eye-catching-yellow-diamond-discovery" target="_blank"&gt;Eye-catching yellow diamond discovery&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;