Two Diamonds Larger Than 100 Carats Each Found in Lesotho Mine

(Bloomberg) -- Gem Diamonds Ltd. has discovered two huge diamonds, each bigger than 100 carats, at its Lesotho mine in southern Africa.

It unearthed the 117 carat and 110 carat D color Type IIa diamonds at the Letseng mine, Gem said in a statement on Monday. Type IIa diamonds contain very little or no nitrogen atoms and are the most expensive stones.

The company's stock rose as much as 8.2 percent in London trading.

It's a good start to the year following Gem's discovery of at least seven stones bigger than 100 carats in 2017 and five the year before. It recovered a dozen diamonds bigger than 100 carats in 2015.

Still, recent finds don't compare with the largest at Letseng, renowned for the quality and size of its stones. Gem sold a 357-carat stone for $19.3 million in 2015 and in 2006 found the 603-carat Lesotho Promise.

Lucapa Diamond Co. also had a good new year, announcing on Monday that it had discovered 103 carat and 83 carat diamonds at its operations in Angola. The company's biggest-ever find was a 404 carat stone that sold for $16 million in 2016.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Biesheuvel in London at tbiesheuvel@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Tony Barrett

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