Two unique gem-quality diamonds were mined in Russia at the V. Grib field in the Mezensky district of the Arkhangelsk region, TASS reports. One of the stones was found at the end of last year, it weighs 186.54 carats, it was named after the sculptor Fedot Shubin.
The AGD Diamonds company added that the second stone was mined on January 16, 2021, and its weight is 51.57 carats. In total, over four million carats of precious stones were mined at the deposit last year, of which seven are unique, and four are named after people who made a great contribution to the development of geological exploration and diamond mining: Georgy Georgiev, Yuri Konstantinov, Boris Popov and Nikolai Laverov. Another stone was named after the head of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov.
In early January, a meteorite-like diamond was found in Russia. The find was made on the Nyurbinskaya pipe on the first day of the new year. At the end of last year, one of the largest diamonds in history, weighing 998 carats, was found in Botswana.
The largest stone ever discovered is the “Star of Africa” weighing 3106 carats. It was found in 1905 in South Africa in the “Premier” mine and was subsequently divided into several parts. The largest of which (“Big Star of Africa” and “Second Star of Africa”) became part of the British crown jewels.