Foxfire Diamond Pulled From Sub-Arctic Ice

[Hum]

Even in the world of rare stones, Foxfire is a freak.

It was buried in a place where big gem-quality diamonds aren’t supposed to exist. A Rio Tinto Group ore processor was configured to discard it. And what saved the diamond’s 187.7 carats from being pulverized was a fluke: Its unusual, elongated shape allowed it to slip sideways through a filtering screen.

“It really is a miracle that it was found,’’ said Alan Davies, chief executive officer of diamonds and minerals for Rio Tinto, the operator of Canada’s Diavik mine, Foxfire’s former home. “It’s a rare find, a really rare find.”

That’s the company’s marketing line as it shows Foxfire to prospective suitors on a worldwide tour and promotes it as the largest gem-quality diamond ever found in North America. Luckily for Rio Tinto, rare diamonds are hot, much hotter than bog-standard rough stones. Sales of those fell 18 percent last year, while their uncommon cousins rack up records. Lucara Diamond Corp. just sold an 813-carat jewel named the Constellation for $63 million, making it the most expensive of its kind—$77,649 a carat. Next month, Sotheby’s will offer one that could fetch more, the Lesedi la Rona, which at 1,109 carats is the size of a tennis ball.

 

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[DocM]

Sounds perfect for a Kardashian engagement ring. 

[Hum]

Really does look like ice in that pictre.

[Buttus]

wow, just imagine the other diamonds that might have been crushed