London-headquartered diamond miner Gem Diamonds recovered a high quality 114-carat Type I white diamond at its Letšeng mine in Lesotho on 16th July 2022. This represents the company’s fourth diamond above 100 carats since May this year.
Large, high value diamonds greater than 100 carats from Letseng account for 70-80% of the company’s revenue annually.
Earlier this year, Gem Diamonds recovered a 129-carat diamond on 23rd May, a 125-carat diamond on 31st May, and a 245-carat diamond on 11th June from Letseng, with a 99.36-carat rough recovered on 5th April 2022 narrowly missing out.
The Kingdom of Lesotho is known for producing large, high quality rough diamonds. In 2021, the country’s diamond output had the world’s highest average value of $755.79 per carat, having produced 339,451.60 carats worth $256.55 million, according to the Kimberley Process.