Yesterday the London registered mine company Gem Diamonds yesterday revealed a 196 carat diamond which was unearthed last month at its mine in Lesotho, South Africa.
The group explained that the diamond will attract a "substantial price" and that initial tests "indicate that it is expected to produce top colour and top clarity polished diamonds".
The Government of Lesotho owns a 30 per cent stake in the mine there. Gem Diamonds explained that after buying the rights to the Letseng project 4 years ago, the mine has successfully produced 3 of the world's top 20 largest diamonds. One of these included the impressively big 603-carat Letseng Promise stone, which was found in August 2006.
The discovery comes a year after fellow Southern Africa diamond miner Petra came across a 507 carat stone from its mines near Johannesburg. The Cullinan Heritage was in fact the 19th largest diamond ever found, and was subsequently sold to a Hong Kong-based jeweller in February for $35.3 million (£22.9 million).