The night-walkers of Uganda

209

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Miners unearth world’s
biggest diamond
David Beresford in Johannesburg and Lee 
Glendinning
August 28, 2007
Diamond miners have found the world’s biggest 
diamond in a mine in the North-West Province 
of South Africa. The diamond is twice as big as 
the famous Cullinan diamond, which was the 
largest cut diamond in the world until 1985, when 
the Golden Jubilee diamond was found. People 
in the diamond industry are very excited by the 
news, but no-one knows exactly who found the 
diamond and where they found it. Diamond 
buyers around the world will be extremely 
interested in the diamond and it could sell for as 
much as £15 million. 
A spokesman for the mining company which 
found the diamond said they were taking it to 
a bank vault in Johannesburg and would keep 
it there for a couple of days “until we decide 
what we are going to do”. They have hired a 
security company to protect the precious stone. 
The South Africa Broadcasting Corporation 
reported that the stone was twice as big as the
Cullinan diamond. 
Fred Cuellar, the founder of Diamond Cutters 
International and author of How to Buy a 
Diamond, said he first heard about the find a 
few days ago. “When people find any rare stone 
around the world they phone me, and when 
I heard about this one it was amazing news. 
Everybody in the diamond industry was very 
surprised. There are a lot of people who will want 
to buy this stone.” 
The Cullinan diamond, which was found near 
Pretoria more than one hundred years ago, 
was once the largest cut diamond in the world, 
weighing 530.20 carats. In 1985 it lost the record 
to the Golden Jubilee, which was found in the 
same mine as the Cullinan and weighed 545.67 
carats. In its rough or uncut state the Cullinan 
weighed 3,106.75 carats. It now forms part of 
the British crown jewels and is in the Tower of 
London. 
The Cartier diamond, which Richard Burton once 
gave to Elizabeth Taylor as a gift, weighed just 
240.80 carats rough and 69.42 carats cut. Mr 
Cuellar said they did not have much information 
about the new diamond and didn’t know whether 
it was colourless or not. “The reported size of 
the stone is correct, but there are several other 
things we still don’t know. What is important now 
is how wide, how clear and how well cut the 
diamond will be.”
“Will this diamond be better than the best quality 
diamonds in the world? I can tell you right 
now, no. But it will be on the list of the largest 
diamonds ever found in the world.” He said 
the first seven people who looked at the stone 
thought it was an industrial diamond, but now 
experts believe it is a stone that they can cut to 
make a piece of jewellery. 
Mr Cuellar says that the problem now is how 
best to cut the stone. “Usually with these types 
of things, we know how big we could get it but 
we don’t know what its quality will be like.” Some 
people thought the Cullinan, also known as the 
Star of Africa, was part of a larger stone which 
has still not been found.
There will be interest in who found the diamond 
and what they will receive for their find. The 
miner who discovered the Excelsior, the second 
largest uncut diamond ever found, received a 
horse and saddle, and a sum of money. 
The Cullinan Diamond was found in 1905 and, 
at 3,106 carats, was the largest gem-quality 
rough diamond ever found. Cullinan I, or the 
Great Star of Africa – at 530 carats formerly the 
largest cut diamond – was one of the 105 gems 
cut from it. The Koh-i-noor is part of the British