Alluvial diamond miners Rockwell Diamonds has reportedly discovered five large gemstones from its Holpan, Saxendrift and Klipdam operations, based in South Africa. The company announced the news of their discoveries yesterday. These latest recoveries bring the total number of rough diamonds of over 50-carats in weight unearthed to eleven for the current financial year of 2011.
The most significantly sized stone was found at the Holpan operations where Rockwell recovered a 136 carat clean white (H to I), broken octahedral diamond. At Saxendrift miners discovered and recovered three diamonds of 58 carats, 82 carats and 104 carats. At the Klipdam operations site, miners located a 69.26 carat pinkish diamond with a brown overtone and a blocky shape.
The next stage for the rough diamonds is for them to be cleaned, treated and valued. It is expected that the large stones will likely be sold through a joint venture agreement with Steinmetz Diamond Group.
President of Rockwell Diamonds, John Bristow commented on the discovery of the remarkable gems:
"The regular recovery of large diamonds of exceptional quality and size is a hallmark of Rockwell's unique diamond production. In the current calendar year, Rockwell has recovered a mix of excellent quality large diamonds across its operating mines, with Saxendrift once again showing its importance to the company by yielding seven out of the 11 large gemstones recovered so far."