Mystery surrounds claim of world's largest diamond

Mystery surrounds reports today of a diamond twice the size of the world’s largest stone been unearthed by a small South African mining company with industry experts saying the claim still needs to be verified.

Brett Jolly, a shareholder of the unnamed mining company, said the stone of about 7,000 carats was found at their operation in the North-West province yesterday afternoon.

“It’s totally unbelievable,” said Jolly, looking a bit shell-shocked.

The world’s largest diamond, the Cullinan, discovered near Pretoria in 1905 weighed about 3,000 carats.

A picture provided by Jolly shows the stone to Maseru about 12 inches across with a light green tinge, which experts said did show some characteristics of a diamond.