The New Largest Pink Diamond Found

The gem-quality stone was found at the company's alluvial mines in Russia’s Far East. (Image: ALROSA.)

Russia’s Alrosa, the world’s top diamond producer by output in carats, has unearthed 27.85-carat pink precious rock the company believes could be the most expensive it has ever found.

The miner, majority-owned by the Russian government, said the gem-quality stone was found at its alluvial mines in Russia’s Far East, adding that the largest pink diamond it had previously discovered was less than 4 carats in weight.

The impressive pink rock, measuring 22.47 mm x 15.69 mm x 10.9 mm, has very few flaws and could become the company’s most expensive polished diamond if it decides to cut it, Alrosa said in the statement.

Coloured diamonds, especially pink ones, have been lately setting records in auctions. In April, Sotheby’s sold a 59.6-carat one — the ‘‘Pink Star’’ — for $71.2 million. Until then, the most expensive diamond ever sold at auction was the "Oppenheimer Blue," which fetched 56.8 million Swiss francs (more than $57 million at the time) in May 2016.

The previous world auction record for a pink diamond was $46.2 million for the 24.78 carat "Graff Pink" in 2010.

Alrosa noted that it is currently trying to decide on whether to sell this pink rock as a rough diamond, or cut and polish it.

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The above story is based on materials provided by ALROSA.