12-Ct. Pink Diamond Unearthed In Australia

The Argyle Pink Jubilee. Picture credit: AAP via the Herald Sun

A 12.76 carat diamond was found at the Argyle diamond mine in the East Kimberley region of Western Australia. It’s the largest pink diamond ever found at the famed mine, the largest producer of pink diamonds in the world.

It is expected to fetch at least $10 million according to a report in the Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne, Australia.

Owned by mining giant Rio Tinto, the mine is estimated to have a 10-year supply left of these pinks so it’s likely this will be the largest diamond ever found at the mine.

The diamond will be known as The Argyle Pink Jubilee, Rio Tinto said in a statement.

The Argyle Pink Jubilee is a light pink diamond, similar in color to The Williamson Pink, which is the diamond that Queen Elizabeth II received as a wedding gift and was subsequently set into a brooch for her Coronation.

Expert diamond polisher Richard How Kim Kam, who has been at Argyle for 25 years, started the work to begin polishing the pink diamond, Rio Tinto said. After two months of assessment and planning, it will take about 10 days to cut and polish the diamond as a single stone.

“I'm going to take it very carefully,” he said. “I know the world will be watching.”

When the diamond has been cut and polished it will be graded by a team of international experts and showcased to the world before being sold as part of the annual Argyle Pink Diamonds Tender later this year. The best Argyle pink diamonds are shown in major cities around the world to a select group of diamond dealers where they view the diamonds and place silent bids on the ones that catch their eye. They find out months later if their bids have won. 

 “A diamond of this caliber is unprecedented—it has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again,” said Josephine Johnson, Argyle Pink Diamonds manager.

More than 90 per cent of the world's pink diamonds come from the Argyle mine.

Large pink diamonds tend to go to museums, are gifted to royalty or end up at auction houses. Christie's auction house has only sold 18 polished pink diamonds over 10 carats in its 244 year history.