| Four giant diamonds weighing 366 carats, and worth over 6 million US dollars in total have been discovered in Lesotho, a tiny kingdom encircled by South Africa, local media reported on Thursday.
The four flawless diamonds were found at Lesotho's Letseng Diamond Mine high in the Maluti mountains in the last six days, the mine's owners told the SAPA news agency.
"Each one is of the highest quality... flawless," mine chief executive Keith Whitelock said, adding that he expected the stonesto fetch a minimum of 6 million US dollars when sold because "there is a worldwide shortage of large high-quality stones."
Letseng was officially opened last year with investment from South African businessman Brett Kebble's mining finance company JCI. The mine was already exceeding expectations in terms of production, Whitelock said.
The run of good fortune began on Friday when a flawless 76-carat stone was discovered.
This was followed two days later by a 112-carat stone. On Tuesday a 106-carat beauty turned up and a 72-carat stone was recovered on Wednesday.
Whitelock said the stones would be sold as one parcel and the sale was expected to take place within days.
"The stones are already on their way to Europe," he said. |
