世界第二大鑽石博茨瓦納出世:約1111克拉
The world's second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says.
加拿大盧卡拉鑽石公司宣佈在博茨瓦納發現世界第二大寶石級鑽石。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.
這顆鑽石重達1111克拉，尺寸爲65毫米×56毫米×40毫米，開採於距首都哈博羅內500千米以北的博茨瓦納Karowe礦場。 這是有史以來在博茨瓦納發現的最大鑽石，也是近百年來發現的最大鑽石。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.
史上最大鑽石“卡利南鑽石”於1905年在南非發現，重量驚達3106克拉，被切割成9塊，其中多數被鑲嵌在英國皇室的皇冠上。
"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.
坐落於加拿大的這家鑽石公司的首席執行官威廉蘭姆，在一份聲明中這樣表示，“雖重達1000多克拉的寶石級鑽石，一個多世紀以來的鑽石之最，這次發現的重要性不可過分估量。”Lucara says two other "exceptional" white diamonds - an 813-carat stone and a 374-carat stone - were also found at the Karowe mine.
盧卡拉公司表示，本週公司在Karowe礦場還發現另外兩顆鑽石，重量分別爲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.
蘭姆表示，“這一週對盧卡拉公司來說是巨大的驚喜，先後發現世界第二大鑽石，也是被開採的世界第六大寶石級鑽石。”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."
鑽石還有待準確估價，而大宗商品和礦物分析師基隆霍奇向法新社表示，這顆鑽石的價值不菲。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，在紐約蘇富比，一顆沒有瑕疵、100克拉的鑽石售價是2210萬美元（148萬英鎊）。這顆於南非開採的鑽石切割、打磨、完善，整個過程花費了一年多的時間。Botswana is the world's largest producer of diamonds and the trade has transformed it into a middle-income nation.
博茨瓦納是世界上最大的鑽石生產國，憑藉鑽石貿易位居中等收入國家之列。
