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.