TORONTO, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto RIO.L announced it
has unearthed one of Canada's largest-ever, gem-quality rough
diamonds at its Diavik diamond mine in the remote Northwest
Territories, a 187.7-carat stone called the Diavik Foxfire.
The gem, now being showcased at Kensington Palace in London,
will later be assessed at Rio Tinto's diamond sales and
marketing hub in Antwerp. Rio Tinto, which expects the stone to
produce at least a 50 carat polished diamond, did not estimate
the gem's value.
Discovered in August, the diamond is the second or third
largest rough diamonds mined in Canada and the largest ever for
a Rio Tinto diamond mine, a spokeswoman said.
Rio Tinto operates the mine and owns a 60 percent share,
with Dominion Diamond Corp DDC.TO holding the remainder. Late
last year, Rio approved the $350 million expansion at Diavik,
with production seen starting in late 2018.
The mine produces six to seven million carats annually of
mainly large, white gem quality diamonds. Production began in
2003 and is expected to continue until 2023.
Two weeks ago, a small Canadian diamond miner found the
world's second-biggest gem quality diamond from its mine in
Botswana. The 1,111-carat stone, slightly smaller than a tennis
ball, could sell for more than $60 million, the chief executive
of Lucara Diamond Corp LUC.TO has said.
One day later, the company announced the recovery of an
813-carat and 374-carat stone from its Karowe mine in Botswana.
The world's biggest ever gem-quality diamond is the
Cullinan, a 3,106-carat stone found in 1905 at the Premier mine
in South Africa. It was cut into several polished gems, the two
largest of which are part of Britain's crown jewels.
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For a video of the diamond, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLKmZm8JPWnNQaJANbkBOxmAbTD-seAPlT&v=ZP_hl9C6fRw
For a picture of the mine, see: https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8805/16889384377_e746005bdd_o.jpg
For a photo of the diamond, see: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20151202_C2256_PHOTO_EN_557106.jpg
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