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Russia’s Alrosa mines largest gem-quality crystal since 2016 weighing over 230 carats

An octahedron has yellowish hue and several chips

© Alrosa Press Service

MOSCOW, October 25. /TASS/. Alrosa unearthed a unique rough diamond weighing over 232 carats, the largest gem-quality specimen found in more than three years, at Udacnhaya kimberlite pipe in Yakutia on October 19, Russia’s diamond producer said in a statement on Friday.

An octahedron has yellowish hue and several chips, the company added.

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"Such large gem-quality crystals are extremely rare. Of course, they are present at Alrosa's deposits, but we have not seen them since 2016, when two diamonds weighing over 200 carats were mined," Deputy CEO Evgeny Agureev was quoted as saying. This is the second large diamond mined at Udachnaya pipe this year after a diamond weighing 191.46 carats was extracted there in January.

Udachnaya kimberlite pipe discovered in 1955 is one of the largest primary diamond deposits in Yakutia and globally. Its diamond output reached 2.385 mln carats in nine months of 2019.

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