Peace diamond: Precious stone fetches $6.5m in New York
A giant 709-carat diamond unearthed in Sierra Leone has sold at auction in New York for $6.5m (£4.8m).
Laurence Graff, chairman of Graff Diamonds, won the precious stone - nicknamed the "peace diamond" - in bidding on Monday.
Half
of the proceeds, $3.8m, will be used to fund infrastructure projects to
benefit the community of the small village where it was discovered.
The Sierra Leone government rejected a bid of $7.8m at an earlier auction.
The
government is now expected to use the money raised to improve
conditions in the village of Koryardu, including the introduction of a
fresh supply of water, electricity, roads, medical care and the building
and maintenance of schools.
"The Peace Diamond bought by Laurence Graff will change lives
even though it's a shame the diamond hasn't sold for a wildly expensive
price," the managing director of 77diamonds.com, Tobias Kormind, said.
The
earlier bid of $7.8m was rejected by the government when the stone was
initially auctioned in Freetown, after it said that the figure was too
low.
The "peace diamond", said to be the 14th largest recorded
diamond in the world, was handed to the Sierra Leone government in March
after it was unearthed by Emmanuel Momoh, a Christian pastor.
Mr
Momoh told the BBC's Newsday programme before the auction on Monday that
selling the diamond to middlemen would not have "benefited the
community".
"We lack a lot of things. We don't have a good road network ... or drinking water," he added.
The sale of the diamond was handled by Rapaport Group, which waived all charges.
The
group's chairman, Martin Rapaport, told Newsday that the sale could
bring about a "sea change in the relationship between artisanal miners
and the government" if the community is seen to benefit.
"It will encourage others to work with the government," he said.
BBC
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