The Cullinan mine in South Africa definitely knows how to make miners stand up and take notice.  On September 24, 2009, a 507 carat white stone was discovered in the already famous mine and according to the mining company Petra Diamond, this stone will turn out to be one of the twenty largest rough diamonds ever discovered in the world.  This area of South Africa, 25 miles outside of Pretoria, is known to be a very mineral rich area.

According to the Petra spokesman the diamond upon initial inspection had exceptional color and clarity, weighing just over 100 grams.  The diamond is expected to be classed as a Type I diamond.  It is already ranking alongside many of the other famous diamonds that have been found in the mine since it was open.  There were three other valuable diamonds found at the mine with the 507 carat beauty, one weighing 168 carats, one weighing 58.5 carats and the smallest at 53.30 carats.

The largest rough diamond to ever be discovered also came from the Cullinan mine.  Known as the Cullinan diamond, it came in at 3,106 carats and was discovered in 1905 by Frederick Wells.  This diamond was polished and given to King Edward VII.  It is part of the British crown jewels and is currently valued for more than £200 million.  Only the Golden Jubilee diamond – also found at Cullinan in 1985 – overtakes the Cullinan diamond as the world’s largest polished diamond.  The Golden Jubilee was smaller than the Cullinan in its rough state but polished sits at 545 carats.  The Centenary diamond, a rough diamond at 599 carats, was also discovered at Cullinan mine.

The mine, which was owned by De Beers for a number of decades, was sold in 2007 to Petra Diamond, one of the largest diamond mining firms in the world.  De Beers did not feel that the mine would continue to play out as mining excavations were going deeper underground.  The mine has proven otherwise.