Sri Lankan gem trader buys rough spinel in Africa turns out to be a rare blue diamond?!

Sri Lankan gem trader buys rough spinel in Africa turns out to be a rare blue diamond?!

Sri Lankan gem traders have been sourcing rough gemstones from African countries for many years. Last month, a bombshell shook the entire market. A group of three Sri Lankan Muslims comprising one specialist in gemstone heating and two long time rough stone buyers who frequently travel to Africa and return to Sri Lanka for polishing and selling encountered an astonishing find.

One of the group members, while in Africa, came across a rough stone weighing over 14 carats. Initially, it was believed to be a blue spinel. Due to budget limitations, they brought the stone back to Sri Lanka first for cutting. However, during the cutting process, the cutter found the stone to be extremely hard and suspected it required further testing.

(In Sri Lanka, the standard cutting wheel used can handle gemstones with a Mohs hardness of up to 9, such as sapphires. It cannot cut diamonds, which have a hardness of 10. Diamonds can only be cut by other diamonds or by using advanced laser cutting technology.)

The rough was sent to a local gem lab in Sri Lanka for identification, where it was confirmed to be a diamond. It was then promptly sent to Thailand for certification by GIA. The result, issued on August 15th, was shocking it turned out to be a natural blue diamond with a grayish-blue hue. This was confirmed to be an extremely rare natural blue diamond.

Thai diamond traders immediately made offers, with initial reports suggesting a bid of around USD 5 million. The final deal was reportedly closed at approximately USD 6.5 million.

With nearly a decade of upstream intermediary experience in Sri Lanka, Kelly is a certified gemologist from GIC (China University of Geosciences, Wuhan), a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain (FGA), and holds an MA in Luxury Jewellery Management from Birmingham City University, UK.

Her solo research has been published in academic journals focused on gems and gemology by China University of Geosciences (Wuhan).