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  • Now, the second largest diamond ever found, a rough 2,492-carat stone, has been unearthed in Botswana at a mine owned by the Canadian firm Lucara Diamond.

  • It's the biggest find since the 3,000-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones.

  • Botswana's government said it was the largest diamond ever discovered in the southern African state. Joining me now is our reporter, Ema McCarthy.

  • Tell me more. Lucy, Marilyn was right, wasn't she, when she said that diamonds are a girl's best friend.

  • And certainly, this must be one of the best friends of all.

  • As you said, the second largest diamond ever found, a whopping 2,492 carats.

  • Now, I know that sounds enormous, but to visualize it, I've brought a little prop in with me.

  • It's about the size of a cup or a can of soft drink or soda.

  • So it's pretty substantial. I thought you were bringing me a cup of tea. No, sadly not.

  • It is empty.

  • But can you imagine a diamond of that size?

  • And they found that, as you said, in Botswana, about 300 miles north of the capital, Gaborone.

  • So an enormous discovery.

  • It's the biggest find since the Cullinan diamond in 1905.

  • Way back then, that of course was 3,106 carats, most of which now has all been cut up.

  • And you can find it in the crown jewels at the Tower of London. Yeah, they chopped it up.

  • I mean, you can understand it because that's not going to fit on your finger, is it? Absolutely not.

  • While it would be lovely, I don't think it would be very comfortable on your finger or around your neck. So now what happens next is it goes through weeks of different sorts of testing and analysis.

  • And then, of course, it will be cut into various sized stones.

  • And then the most likely route from that is that a major jewelry house or a fashion brand will purchase the stones and create a collection from it.

  • So the last time that a diamond so substantial was found back in 2019, it was then bought in 2020 by LVMH.

  • So Lucy, it is certainly out there that we may be able to own a piece of it.

  • But if we can afford it, I don't know.

  • That's the question. So how much is it worth?

  • I think they still yet to value it.

  • That, of course, comes later once it's been cut, once it's been analyzed.

  • I actually don't think I want to know how much it's going to be worth, Lucy.

  • An eye-watering amount, it's fair to say.

  • That's for sure. Okay, well, thank you very much, Emy McCarthy, our reporter there on the second largest diamond ever found.

  • Thank you very much.

Now, the second largest diamond ever found, a rough 2,492-carat stone, has been unearthed in Botswana at a mine owned by the Canadian firm Lucara Diamond.

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