Australian Miners Discover 12.76-Carat Pink Diamond

Workers at an Australian mining company have discovered a 12.76-carat pink diamond, the second largest in recorded history.

The rare pink diamond was discovered at Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine located in Western Australia’s East Kimberly region.

The diamond is estimated to be worth millions of dollars and has been named the Argyle Pink Jubilee.

After traveling to various locations including New York and Hong Kong the diamond will be sold at auction in late 2012 but first it has been sent to Perth where it will be cut and polished over the next 10 days.

The Argyle mine is a popular location for pink diamonds with Rio Tinto claiming that 90% of the world’s pink diamonds come from that location.

According to Rio Tinto the diamond is a light pink color similar to that of The Williamson Pink diamond that was found Tanzania and later given to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding gift.

Argyle Pink Diamonds Manager Josephine Johnson said of the find:

”It has taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone and we may never see one like this again.”

In considering the possible pricing for the diamond a rare 24.78-carat “fancy intense pink” diamond sold for a record-breaking $46 million in 2010, the highest price ever paid for a single jewel. The diamond had been held in a private college for 60 years.

How much do you think a Pink Diamond with this type of rarity will fetch during public auction?