Alrosa said Thursday that one of its subsidiaries unearthed a pink rough diamond weighing 27.85 carats. If the Russian mining giant decides to cut the stone, it has the potential to be the most expensive polished diamond in its history.
The rough diamond has dimensions of 22.47 mm x 15.69 mm x 10.9 mm, Alrosa said in statement Thursday. The pink stone is of gem-quality and almost free of inclusions.
The diamond was unearthed by Almazy Anabara, an Alrosa subsidiary with a diamond mining operation in Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in northeast Russia. It is by far the largest pink diamond Alrosa ever mined—with the previous largest pink rough being 3.86 carats, found in 2012. Apart from this stone, for the past eight years, Alrosa recovered only 3 pink diamonds weighing more than 2 carats. Alrosa said its mining operations discover colored diamonds weighing more than 10 carats about once a year.
Alrosa, a rough diamond mining operation, has been increasing investment in its polishing division. The company said it is deciding whether to sell it as a rough or to cut it and polish it themselves.
“If the company decided to cut it, it would become the most expensive diamond in the entire history of Alrosa,” said Evgeny Agureev, head of United Selling Organization of Alrosa.
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