CAPE TOWN – The second-largest diamond ever recovered has been named ‘Lesedi La Rona’ which means ‘Our Light’. The 1 100 ct diamond – about the size of a tennis ball – was discovered at the Karowe mine in Botswana last November.

Over 10 000 people entered a competition to name the gem, either by e-mail or sms.

Thembani Moitlhobogi, was judged the winner by a panel of five people. He won 25 000 pula (about R30 000).

“The selection process wasn’t easy as there were so many entrants and so many creative submissions to choose from,” Lucara Diamond Corporation CEO William Lamb said at the announcement at the Investing in African Mining Indaba.

“We had a fascinating list of names and it was interesting to see how patriotic to Botswana so many of the entrants were.”

Lamb said he found out about the diamond when he was phoned by his Chief Operating Officer at 04:00 and asked ‘Are you sitting down?’

“It was very exciting. To be the first company to recover a stone like this in 100 years was amazing,” he said.

The diamond was first seen by a sorter who had been with the mine for only a few weeks.

“He understood that he was joining a pretty special mine, but he had no idea that he would open the glove box one day and find the second biggest diamond in 100 years,” said Paul Day, Chief Operating Officer of Lucara Diamond.

The diamond will embark on a world tour under tightest security this year, before it is sold.

Lamb said he hoped to sell the diamond before June this year. Asked about its value, he said: “A stone will sell for what someone is willing to pay for it. A reserve will be put on the stone, but it is of historical significance and you can’t really put a price on that.”

Lucara Diamond Corp is a Canadian diamond mining company with a producing mine and exploration licences in Botswana. The mine’s name, “Karowe” means precious stone in Tswana.  The mine has an annual production of about 400 000 ct of gem quality diamonds. The mine has been producing some very large, exceptionally high-quality diamonds, including some coloured stones. Lamb said it had produced 100 stones which had been larger than 100 ct.

The largest diamond to be found was the Cullinan diamond. It was found in Gauteng in January 1905 by mine superintendent, Frederick Wells, who extracted it using a pocket knife. The stone tipped the scales at 3 106 ct. It was named the Cullinan, after Sir Thomas Cullinan, the owner of the diamond mine in which it was found.