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One of the priciest rough diamonds ever fetches $40m
8:59 CAT | 13 Jul 2021
Photo: Twitter / @Petra_Diamonds
Petra Diamonds sold a 39.3-carat blue gem for more than $40 million, making it one of the most expensive rough diamonds ever.
The small miner sold the exceptional Type IIb blue diamond to a joint venture between top producer De Beers and Diacore, a trading company owned by the billionaire Steinmetz family, it said Monday. The stone fetched just over $1 million per carat and is the most expensive gem Petra has ever sold.
Richard Duffy: “This sets a new milestone for Petra in achieving its highest price for a single stone and follows the sale of the 299 carat Type IIa white diamond in March this year and the five blue diamonds comprising the Letlapa Tala Collection in November 2020.” pic.twitter.com/KbpPygVaJJ
— Petra Diamonds (@Petra_Diamonds) July 12, 2021
Petra found the diamond at the Cullinan mine in South Africa in April. The mine, once owned by De Beers, is famous for both large and blue stones and was where world’s biggest diamond was found in 1905. Blue stones are among the most rare and valuable.
The sale is good news for Petra, which was forced to restructure its debt last year, when the Covid-19 crisis brought the industry to a standstill at a time when the company was already facing a mountain of debt and falling diamond prices. The shares, which were once worth more than $1.5 billion, closed up 1.1% on Monday.
Petra has just announced the sale of the exceptional Type IIb blue diamond recovered at the Cullinan diamond mine in April 2021 to a partnership between De Beers and Diacore for just over US$40 million pic.twitter.com/p1LskoqdBP
— Petra Diamonds (@Petra_Diamonds) July 12, 2021
Source: Bloomberg
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