Recently, Gem Diamonds, a diamond mining company, excavated a 113-carat diamond raw stone in the Letseng mine in Lesotho, which is the third raw stone of more than 100 carats this year. The miner said on Monday that they found the high-quality IIa diamond rough on February 17.
Prior to this, the company mined a low-quality 139-carat diamond from the same place on January 17, and found a high-value 295-carat white IIa-type raw stone on January 8.
Three diamonds of more than 100 carats were found so early this year, which is good news for miners. Although Letseng is famous for producing high-quality raw stones of more than 100 carats, the supply has been decreasing recently. Last year and 2022, the company only found four diamonds of this level, lower than 6 in 2021 and 16 in 2020. The decline in the number of special-size gemstones has affected the company's revenue. As of the third quarter of September 30, sales fell by 45% year-on-year to $31.4 million. At the same time, the average price fell 35% to $1,310 per carat.
