The diamond auction will be held at Sotheby`s (BID) in London at 6:30 p.m. local time. The tennis-ball size diamond is so large that it does not fit into conventional scanners used to evaluate a stone`s potential worth.
It was discovered in Botswana in November. It is named Lesedi La Rona, meaning "Our Light" in Botswana`s Tswana language.
It is surpassed in size only by the 3,106 "Cullinan Diamond" found in 1905 in South Africa. A cut of that diamond, known as the "First Star of Africa," now is part of British royal family`s crown jewels.
Lesedi La Rona is owned by Canadian mining firm Lucara. Just last month it sold another massive diamond, a 813-carat know as "The Constellation," found in the same mine. It fetched an auction price of $63 million, or more than $77,000 per carat, a new record for a rough gem. Shares of Lucara (LUCRF) have more than doubled since Lesedi La Rona`s discovery.
Lesedi La Rona is expected to go for at least $70 million. But an art auction held in London Monday night at Phillips auction house had 32% of the items put up for auction go unsold, and some of the items sell for less than the low end of their expected sales price.
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