404-Carat Diamond Found in Angola Worth More Than $14M

A 404.2-carat diamond recently found in Angola, the largest ever discovered in that country, is worth more than $14 million to the Australian-based mining firm Lucapa Diamond Company.

Miles Kennedy, Lucapa's chairman, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. News on Monday that the white diamond was found at the company's alluvial diamond mining operations at Lulo. Miners had already discovered more than 60 "large special diamonds" since work started there in August 2015.

"When we first looked at the property, 3,000 square kilometers of untouched ground, 700 kilometers inland from the coast, you are talking about a very, very remote area," Kennedy told ABC News. "The results today are a wonderful vindication of eight years of pretty hard work."

"It's the biggest diamond ever recorded from the country of Angola and it's the biggest diamond ever recovered by an Australian diamond miner. So, we have hit a number of firsts finding this diamond." 

Before the recent discovery, the largest diamond the operation had produced weighed 133.4 carats.

According to Mining.com, Angola ranks sixth in the world in the volume of diamonds produced. The value of Angola's diamonds ranks fourth in the world.

Angola's mining success comes as the country, formerly under Portuguese colonial rule,  continues to rebound from a civil war that ended 2002, noted Mining.com.

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