Gem Diamonds recovers 152 carat diamond from Letseng

Gem Diamonds said on Wednesday that it has recovered a 152 carat, top white colour type IIa diamond from its Letseng mine in Lesotho.

This is the sixth diamond of more than 100 carats that it has recovered this year.

Shore Capital pointed out that seven such diamonds were recovered last year, five in 2016 and 11 in 2015.

"It is also noteworthy that one of this year’s stones was a 910ct D-colour Type IIa whopper of 'exceptional quality' - the largest diamond ever recovered at Letseng, and believed by Gem to be the fifth-largest gem-quality diamond ever recovered; we expect it to fetch at least $40m.

"We are therefore hopeful that the period of relative 'paucity' of large gem-quality stones has ended. If the current large stone rate can be kept up, 2018 could well prove a sparkling year for Gem, we believe."

At 1010 GMT, the shares were up 0.7% to 86.02p.