Lucara Sells World's Second-Largest Diamond

(IDEX Online) - Lucara has sold the world's second-largest diamond, the 2,488-carat Motswedi, for an undisclosed price.

The sale was included in the Canadian miner's second-quarter results, which reported total revenue of $41.0 million for the three months ended June 30, a 6% dip year on year.

The figure includes sales through the HB Trading, tender and Clara channels, but Lucara did not specify the amount attributable to Motswedi.

The huge gem was recovered in August 2024 at Lucara's Karowe mine in Botswana. It ranks as the world's second-largest rough diamond, behind the iconic Cullinan diamond, which weighed 3,106 carats.

Motswedi was originally reported at 2,492 carats before cleaning and the removal of material for analysis.

The diamond's sale had been the subject of considerable speculation. In February 2025, we reported that three museums had expressed interest in acquiring Motswedi as a rough stone rather than having it cut and polished.

Lucara CEO William Lamb said at the time the stone was not as white as the 1,109-carat Lesedi La Rona, also from Karowe, and contained inclusions that reflected brown tones. Lesedi La Rona was ultimately sold to Graff Diamonds for $53 million in 2017.

Motswedi fell within Lucara's agreement with Antwerp-based HB, which handles the company's diamonds weighing more than 10.8 carats, although Botswana has the power to exempt "legacy stones" valued at more than $10 million from that arrangement.

The company has not said whether the stone was sold to HB, a museum, another collector, or a different buyer.

Lucara's Q2 revenue declined from $43.7 million a year earlier, when the company recorded the sale of the 1,094-carat Seriti. Seriti was sold to HB Antwerp for an initial polished value of $12 million.

Lucara later reported an additional $7.9 million in top-up revenue from the polished outcomes during 2025. That implies a total recognized revenue of approximately $19.9 million, although the final end-customer sale price was not disclosed.

Last month, Lucara announced the recovery of a 1,305.4-carat diamond at Karowe, the 10th stone over 1,000 carats since full-scale open-pit mining started.

Pic courtesy Luacara shows the Motswedi diamond.