世界第二大钻石博茨瓦纳出世:约1111克拉

The world's second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says.

加拿大卢卡拉钻石公司宣布在博茨瓦纳发现世界第二大宝石级钻石。

The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, measures 65mm×56mm×40mm in size, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone. It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century.

这颗钻石重达1111克拉，尺寸为65毫米×56毫米×40毫米，开采于距首都哈博罗内500千米以北的博茨瓦纳Karowe矿场。 这是有史以来在博茨瓦纳发现的最大钻石，也是近百年来发现的最大钻石。

The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.

史上最大钻石“卡利南钻石”于1905年在南非发现，重量惊达3106克拉，被切割成9块，其中多数被镶嵌在英国皇室的皇冠上。

"The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1,000 carats, the largest for more than a century... cannot be overstated," William Lamb, the CEO of Lucara Diamond, a Canadian diamond producer, said in a statement.

坐落于加拿大的这家钻石公司的首席执行官威廉兰姆，在一份声明中这样表示，“虽重达1000多克拉的宝石级钻石，一个多世纪以来的钻石之最，这次发现的重要性不可过分估量。”

Lucara says two other "exceptional" white diamonds - an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat stone - were also found at the Karowe mine.

卢卡拉公司表示，本周公司在Karowe矿场还发现另外两颗钻石，重量分别为813克拉和374克拉。

"This has been an amazing week for Lucara with the recovery of the second largest and also the sixth largest gem quality diamonds ever mined," Mr Lamb said.

兰姆表示，“这一周对卢卡拉公司来说是巨大的惊喜，先后发现世界第二大钻石，也是被开采的世界第六大宝石级钻石。”

The stone is yet to be evaluated, but commodities and mining analyst Kieron Hodgson, told AFP news agency that "the potential to be one very expensive diamond."

钻石还有待准确估价，而大宗商品和矿物分析师基隆霍奇向法新社表示，这颗钻石的价值不菲。

In April a flawless 100-carat diamond was sold for $22.1m (14.8m bounds) at Sotheby's in New York. The gem, originally mined in South Africa, had taken more than a year to cut, polish and perfect.

今年四月，在纽约苏富比，一颗没有瑕疵、100克拉的钻石售价是2210万美元（148万英镑）。这颗于南非开采的钻石切割、打磨、完善，整个过程花费了一年多的时间。

Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.

博茨瓦纳是世界上最大的钻石生产国，凭借钻石贸易位居中等收入国家之列。