The Sewelô

diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

is the third-largest rough diamond ever found. The diamond was recovered in April 2019 by the Lucara Diamond Corp in its Karowe diamond mine in

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

. The diamond is 1,758 carats and weighs 352

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined as of 1795 as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to th ...

s or 12.39 oz. At the time it was found, ''Sewelô'' was the largest diamond in Botswana's history, surpassing the 1,111 carats (222 g, 7.83 oz.)

Lesedi La Rona Lesedi La Rona, formerly known in media as Karowe AK6 or as Quad 1 by the personnel at the mine, is the fourth-largest diamond ever found, and the third-largest of gem quality. It was found in the Karowe mine, (formerly called AK6) in Botswana ...

extracted at the same mine on 16 November 2015. The Lesedi La Rona was the fourth-largest diamond ever found, and the third-largest of gem quality. The gem was named through a competition held by Lucara. Out of 22,000 submissions the name ''Sewelô'' was chosen, which translates 'rare find' in Setswana. In January 2020 it was announced that

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...

had purchased the diamond for an undisclosed sum. Louis Vuitton will work with HB Antwerp to polish the diamond and cut it into smaller stones. The stone is covered with a thin layer of opaque

black carbon Chemically, black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter (PM ≤ 2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter). Black carbon consists of pure carbon in several linked forms. It is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuel ...

and its surface is pitted. It is the size of a

tennis ball A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in organised competitions, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous felt which modifies their aerodyna ...

but weighs six times more. The HB Company has applied novel mapping methods using

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech r ...

in order to optimise the design and to maximize the chance of success in cutting the diamond. The diamond has been described as a "near-gem of variable quality, including domains of high-quality white gem", an industrial diamond with sections that could produce gem-quality stones. Further analysis was in progress as of April 2021.

References

External links

Lucara Diamond website
2019 in Botswana Diamonds originating in Botswana Individual diamonds {{mineral-stub

See also

References

External links