Okavango Diamond Company which is a botswana based company displayed a 20-carat gemstone on Wednesday that it said was the largest blue diamond ever discovered in the country, one of the world’s top producers of natural stones.
The company, known as ODC, announced the discovery of the Okavango Blue,which according to them is a polished oval-cut stone. It said the stone was graded “fancy blue” with VVS2 clarity, meaning that it contains only minute imperfections.
According to their managing director Marcus ter Haar:
“Only a handful of similar blue stones have come to market during the last decade, of which the Okavango Blue rightfully takes its place as one of the most significant,”.
ODC, a diamond marketing company wholly owned by Botswana’s government, estimates the stone was formed between 500 million and 3 billion years ago. Debswana produced 24.1 million carats of diamonds in 2018, a 6 percent jump from the previous year, and is the largest contributor to the government’s budget.
