Recovery of 70 carat white gem diamond

Firestone recovers makeable

Diamond from Liqhobong Mine

Firestone Diamond announces the recovery of a 70 carat white, makeable diamond from its Liqhobong Mine in Lesotho. This follows after a 46 carat gem diamond that was recovered in December, sold for more than US$1 million at a recently held sale. The 70 carat diamond was recovered undamaged and will go on sale at the next tender which is scheduled to take place during March 2019. 

Paul Bosma, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "The 70 carat stone was recovered in the northern, low grade part of the pit where the bulk of our mining will take place in the coming months. 

Although the market for the smaller stones has been under pressure, we've seen continued demand and good prices realised for special stones".

Lesotho has long been known as a source of large, high-quality diamonds, at least initially from alluvial deposits. 

Nevertheless, most of the country’s diamond assets have to date remained unexploited with the majority of construction having been derived from the Letseng-la-Terai deposit originally mined by De Beers between 1970 and 1981.