Businessman claims he has biggest diamond

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- A South African businessman, despite skeptics, claims he's found the world's largest unearthed diamond, a monster more than twice as big as the storied Cullinan.

The diamond reportedly weighs 8,120 carats or 3.62 pounds, The Guardian reported. The Cullinan, found in South Africa in 1905, was cut into 11 gem-quality stones, including the second- and third-largest polished diamonds known.

Brett Jolly, a property developer, says the as-yet-unvarified diamond was found in the North-West Province and is now in a Johannesburg bank vault, the British newspaper reported. Ernest Blom, president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses, expects to get a close look next week.

Blom said in the photograph he has seen the diamond appears to be green.

"A diamond that size is rare. But a green diamond, on top of that, makes it doubly, doubly, doubly rare," he said. "Everybody is skeptical because of the size. I have a philosophy that nature is an incredibly intricate thing and it gives us these surprises from time to time."

At least one chunk of diamond material larger than the Cullinan has been discovered in Brazil but included no gem-quality diamond.

 Related Images
 Related Polls
 Related Trivia
 Celebrity Gossip

South, African, Cullinan, Guardian, SOUTHAFRICA,
DIAMOND, biz top, biz industry metals+mining, Business,