Rio Tinto Discovers Huge Pink Diamond at Argyle

By Joel ScanlonFeb 23 2012

Rio Tinto has discovered an unprecedented 12.76 carat pink diamond at its Kimberly mining operations. The huge rough stone has been named the "Argyle Pink Jubilee". It will take 10 days to cut and polish this rare and precious stone.

Josephine Johnson from Rio's Argyle Pink Diamonds division said that the Pink Jubilee was generating incredible excitement as a diamond of this caliber was unprecedented. It had taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth the stone and we may never see one like this again, she said.

The Argyle Pink Jubilee is the second largest pink diamond in recorded history. The light pink diamond is similar in color to the 23.6 carat Williamson Pink diamond that was given to the then Princess Elizabeth as the centerpiece of a floral brooch for her forthcoming wedding to Prince Phillip. The Williamson diamond was found in Tanzania in 1947 and is said to be amongst the finest examples of pink diamonds.

Close to 90% of the world’s pink diamonds are produced by Rio Tinto at the Argyle mine. The larger stones like the Argyle Pink Jubilee usually end up in museums or being gifted to royalty. Occasionally they get auctioned at places like Christie’s. In fact Christie’s has auctioned just 18 polished pink diamonds larger than 10 carats over the last 244 years of its existence.