THE KAO PURPLE PRINCESS STORY

THE KAO PHERESE KHOSATSANA (translated into Sesotho)

Size: 3.06cts
Date Recovered: April 2017

On the 9th April 2017, a rare Pink/Purple stone of 3.11cts was recovered at the KAO mine, operated by the company Storm Mountain Diamonds (Pty) Ltd., in Lesotho.

This diamond was recovered in one of the KAO sorting glove boxes in the Final Recovery plant by the KAO Recovery team. Due to historical results, it is presumed that this spectacular diamond was recovered from the GK Facies, a low-grade facies and one of the 4 facies making up the currently mined KAO Kimberlite pipe.

The stone was named the ‘KAO PURPLE PRINCESS’.

This 3.11ct was exported and included in the 3rd tender for 2017 held in Antwerp on the 2nd June 2017 with the KAO contracted Diamond Tender Broker company ‘Bonas’ (www.bonasgroup.com)

Before the start of the tender viewings, and in Antwerp, the 3.11ct Purple Princess was boiled to remove any excess kimberlite latch bringing the final and tender weight to 3.06cts.

The viewings for the tender started on 23rd May 2017 and ended on the 2nd June 2017.

A total of 29 bids were submitted for this stone alone with the top 8 bidders being well over the US$ 100,000 per ct.

The KAO Purple Princes was won at the tender by a specialist buyer for US$ 237,875 per ct totaling US$ 727,898.

The KAO kimberlites are 19.8 ha in surface area which is the largest kimberlite in Lesotho and the 4th largest in southern Africa. This pipe erupted some 90 million years ago, roughly at the same time as the Letšeng kimberlites and those of the Kimberley area in South Africa and along with the blasting, loading, hauling, plant treatment and recovery process it is amazing that any stone can survive the total journey and for us to have the privilege and honor of being the first ever to see it at the end of the process in the sorting glove boxes at KAO is exceptionally special.