A rare 170-carat pink diamond is the largest one found in 300 years

• Angola mines are one of the top ten producers of diamonds in the world.
• Only one in 10,000 diamonds mined is colored.
• The rare find will be sold through an international tender by a state-run diamond company.

A 170-carat pink diamond found in the Lulo mine in Angola might be the largest we have come across in 300 years, its miners Lucapa Diamond Company have claimed in a press release.

The hardest naturally occurring substance, diamonds have found a wide range of applications in our day-to-day lives. As components in high-end sound equipment to cosmetic products, diamonds are used everywhere. The medical industry has found them to be useful for magnetic field sensing while, in small sizes, diamonds are critical to the cutting and grinding applications in industrial processes. Bigger diamonds, however, become part of collectibles either as part of jewelry or as standalone units.

Earlier this year, a 555.55-carat black diamond, dubbed Enigma, was put to auction at Sotheby's and was one of the few items that were open to cryptocurrency bids. While the newly found diamond is also likely to end up at an auction house, given the state of the crypto markets, only conventional billionaires are likely to bid for it.

What makes the find historic?

In alluvial diamond mining, the precious stones are found in gravel or in the sand in riverbeds. Although this might sound rather easy, only one in 100 diamonds found at the site is greater than 10.8 carats, so finding a 170-carat diamond is big deal.

However, only one in 10,000 diamonds found is usually colored, the company's managing director Stephen Wetherall told CNN, making the find an extremely rare one. The miners claim that this is the biggest pink diamond to have been recovered on Earth in the past three centuries and have dubbed it 'The Lulo Rose'.

"This record and spectacular pink diamond recovered from Lulo continues to showcase Angola as an important player on the world stage for diamond mining and demonstrates the potential and rewards for commitment and investment in our growing diamond mining industry," said Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas.

Where was The Lulu Rose found? Where will it be sold?

The diamond was found in the Lulo alluvial diamond mine in the Lunda Norte region of Angola in Africa. According to the Gemological Institute of America, Angola mines are one of the top ten producers of diamonds.

Lucapa Diamond Company has two assets in the African region, one in Lulo in Angola and the other in Mothae in Lesotho. The two African sites attract some of the highest prices per carat for rough diamonds.

The Lulo mine is also co-owned by a private mining company in Angola as well as state-run diamond miner, Endiama. So, the sale of the diamond will happen through an international tender which will be conducted by the state-run Diamond company, Sodiam E.P.

However, before it is ready for sale, The Lulo Rose needs to be cut and polished to realize its true value, which could see the stone lose 50 percent of its weight. an AFP report said. A 59.6-carat diamond, Pink Star, sold at an auction in Hong Kong for $71.2 million, remains the highest-priced diamond ever sold.