Pink Eternity
Diamond miner Storm Mountain Diamonds has recovered and sold a 47.8 ct exceptional pink diamond – the largest pink diamond recovered at the company’s Kao diamond mine, in Lesotho, to date.
The company confirmed to Mining Weekly that the diamond was recovered earlier this year and sold in September.
The diamond has been named the Pink Eternity.
The Kao mine has become a significant producer of exceptional pink diamonds. Over the past few years exceptional diamonds recovered include the Pink Storm, the Purple Princess, the Rose of Kao and the Pink Palesa.
The Kao mine is located in the Lesotho district of Botha Bothe, and mines the fourth largest kimberlite pipe in Southern Africa – and the largest kimberlite pipe in Lesotho – over 19.8 ha, with an indicated and inferred resource base of 12.7-million carats.
Kao’s pipe has been explored and confirmed to a depth of 500 m, with the mine having about 18 years of operation left.
Kao yields rare coloured diamonds ranging from purple, pink, blue, yellow and top light brown to classic white. The blues, pinks and the purples tend to be the rarest, with the exception of red, which is rarest of all.
Storm Mountain employs more than 700 people and has contributed more than M700-million to the Lesotho fiscus through taxes and levies.
Storm Mountain sells its diamonds on tender in Antwerp, through sales and marketing partner Bonas Couzyn Antwerpen.