Biggest diamond found in Panna
Thu, Jul 1 02:45 PM
IT MAY not be the biggest diamond in the world but it certainly is the biggest to be unearthed from the Panna mines in Madhya Pradesh.
"We have found the biggest ever diamond. The diamond is not only bigger in size, but it is of extremely good quality as compared to the diamond we found in 2005," C. E. Kindo, project manager at the National Mineral Development Corporation's (NMDC) said over telephone from Panna.
The 34.37-carat diamond, which was recovered from a pit during a daily blasting on Tuesday, could fetch over Rs 2 crore in an auction, NMDC officials said. "This is the biggest diamond that the NMDC has delivered in the past 65 years," he added.
The pear-shaped white gem-quality diamond has been sealed by the NMDC officials. Now, the sealed diamond will go under the hammer in an upcoming auction at Panna.
The officials said since the last NMDC diamond auction was held in Mumbai recently, the auction of the biggest ever diamond in Asia would take place in Panna itself. "We are yet to commercially value the diamond we have found," Kindo said. But, the diamond merchants in Bhopal have reacted with shock on knowing the size of the diamond.
When a Bhopal-based diamond merchant was asked if he had ever handled a 34.47 carat diamond, he queried incredulously if he was being asked about one diamond or several pieces of diamonds. The NMDC-owned Panna diamond mine in Madhya Pradesh is situated at Majhgaon.
This is the only mechanised diamond mine in Asia and is known across the world for producing top-quality gems. Panna diamonds are rated second only to South African mines, which hold the record of producing some of the largest diamonds in the world.
Reproduced From Mail Today. Copyright 2010. MTNPL. All rights reserved.
Kaushik S Sanghvi
Mahavir Gems, Mumbai.
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