A 552-carat yellow diamond was just unearthed in Canada's arctic -- a record North American discovery

[jpak]

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-552-carat-yellow-diamond-was-just-unearthed-in-canadas-arctic-a-record-north-american-discovery-2018-12-15

A yellow diamond weighing 552 carats, or about the size of a chicken egg, was unearthed in Canada’s arctic in October, believed to be the largest diamond ever found in North America, miners Dominion Diamond Mines and Rio Tinto RIO, -2.14% announced this week.

The gem-quality stone measures around 3 centimeters by 5.5 centimeters, almost three times the size of the next largest stone ever found in Canada, said Dominion, which owns 40% of the mine at Diavik, where the diamond was found.

“A diamond of this size is completely unexpected for this part of the world and marks a true milestone for diamond mining in North America...,” the company said in a release.

The previous record for a North American diamond was also found at Diavik, located in the Northwest Territories. At 187.7 carats, the so-called “Foxfire” 2-billion-year-old diamond was discovered in 2015.

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[wryter2000]

1. Gorgerous

I hope they don't cut it up into something gaudy.

[lapucelle]

4. Queen Elizabeth's Cullinan brooch.

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/cullinandiamonds.html

[malaise]

2. Magnificent

[LakeArenal]

3. Nature sure can make 'em!!!

[MineralMan]

5. Lovely!

[MontanaMama]

6. So the guy who owns Dominion Diamond Mines

oddly, is my neighbor! Dennis Washington, the owner of The Washington Companies lives across the creek from me!

[erronis]

7. Apparently there are tons of these a few miles down. Only come up during volcanic activity

but they're not rare on this planet. Contrary to what the diamond merchants would like us to believe.

[ansible]

8. Canada also has an insane amount of gold still left there

Remember the California gold rush of the 1850s where people could get thousands of dollars worth of gold without having to use mines? Canada and Alaska is the only place left in the world today that still has huge placer deposits like that, especially now that warmer temperatures are opening up areas that were impossible to access before. Catch is though it's really hard to do it legally because Canada has strict environmental regulations. Discovery did a show a while ago on it.

https://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/devils-canyon/