The biggest diamond to be found in 13 years, the Lesotho Promise,
was sold yesterday at auction for more than $12-million (U.S.)
and is expected to fetch in excess of $20-million once it is cut up.

The 603-carat (120-gram) diamond,
named after the tiny African mountain kingdom where it was found,
went under the hammer at the Antwerp Diamond Centre
and was sold to South African Diamond Corp.,
partly owned by luxury jeweler Graff.

The 10th-largest white diamond ever to be found,
it will be cut into a large heart-shaped diamond and several smaller stones,
which will then be sold.

The uncut diamond is a third bigger than a golf ball.

Johnny Kneller from South African Diamond said that once the gem is cut,
he expects to sell the stones for a third more than the auction price.

"We can't say for sure but we hope it's going to fetch over $20-million," Mr. Kneller said.

The largest diamond ever found, the Cullinan,
was the size of a bowling ball at 3,106 carats in the rough.
That finished stone is set in Britain's Imperial Sceptre as part of the Crown jewels.
The second largest, the Excelsior, was 995 carats. Both were found in South Africa.

The Lesotho diamond was found at the Letseng Diamond mine,
high in the mountains of the tiny nation that is surrounded by South Africa,
by a woman who was sorting through the rocks.

"She started screaming and all the staff thought she had been electrocuted,"
said Clifford Elphick, head of Gem Diamond Mining Corp.,
which owns 70 per cent of the mine.

He said he was very pleased with the price that the gem had fetched.