Extremely rare pink diamond sells for $26.6MILLION as the closure of Australian mine producing 95% of the world's supply sends prices soaring
A rare pink diamond has sold for $26.6million as global supplies of the gems run low.
The purple-pink diamond dubbed the 'Spirit of the Rose' went under the hammer at Sotheby's auction house in Geneva on Wednesday.
The sale comes a week after the closure of the Argyle Mine in Western Australia, which produced 95 per cent of the world's pink diamond supplies.
A rare pink diamond has sold for $26.6million as global supplies of the gems run low
Russian Mining firm Alrosa unearthed the crystal from Russia's Sakha republic in northeast Siberia in July 2017.
The 27.85 carat gem was the the biggest raw stone of the colour ever found in Russia.
It then took a year to painstakingly cut the finished diamond to shape and retain its vivid colour.
Sotheby's described the flawless gem as 'a true wonder of nature'.
The purple-pink diamond dubbed the 'Spirit of the Rose' went under the hammer at Sotheby's auction house in Geneva on Wednesday
The auction house estimated the gem could fetch a price between $23 - $38million at the Geneva sale.
Bidding opened at 16 million Swiss francs and climbed to the final hammer price of 21 million Swiss francs, plus commission, equivalent to $26.6million.
It was bought by a telephone bidder who chose to remain anonymous.
Jewellery expert Benoit Repellin, who led the sale, said it set a record for a diamond graded fancy vivid purple pink sold at auction.
The stone weighing 14.83 carats was the largest pink diamond with that colour grading to go on the block.
The diamond was named after a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes and its legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in 1911
The diamond was named after a ballet performed by the Ballets Russes and its legendary dancer Vaslav Nijinsky in 1911.
Coloured stones have been greatly valued as an asset class by the super rich in recent years with top-quality pink diamonds especially prized.
Tobias Kormind, managing director of European diamond jeweller 77 Diamonds said the price is only going to keep soaring due to a drop in supplies.
'The lucky buyer could well profit from prices soaring for pink diamonds in the coming years thanks to increased rarity,' he said.
The Argyle mine in Western Australia, which produced the world's largest supply of pink diamonds, halted production last week due to depletion.
The 12.76 carat Argyle Pink Jubilee pictured in 2012. This rough fancy pink gem is typical of the Argyle mine which has produced more than 90 per cent of world supply since 1983
The Argyle mine in Western Australia was halted production last week after supplies ran out
The world's largest pink diamond mine began when a group of geologists stumbled across a stone in the Kimberley region of Western Australia in the 1970s.
Since owner Rio Tinto began production in 1983 the mine has produced 95 per cent of the world supply of the rare diamonds.
Naturally-coloured diamonds occur because they possess a particular lattice structure that refracts light to produce coloured, rather than white, stones.
The pink stones have accounted for less than 0.01 per cent of Argyle's total output, with the mine producing more than 865 million carats of rough diamonds over its life.
In 2019, Argyle employed 373 people and produced 12.9 million carats of gems.
Most of the diamonds mined at Argyle are browns of which only 5 per cent are gem quality, however it has consistently produced high-quality pink diamonds making it a unique deposit.
But Rio Tinto has decided to close the mine as the supply of pinks is running out and it is now too deep to excavate beneath and extract them.
After the Argyle Mine is decommissioned, it will be rehabilitated
'The drilling costs are growing, and profits deriving from the diamonds produced are not enough to cover operation costs,' subsidiary retailer Argyle Diamond Investments said on its website.
Rio Tinto managing director for operations, copper and diamonds, Sinead Kaufman told the ABC that over the past 20 years, Argyle pinks had risen in value five-fold.
'Demand for Argyle pink diamonds has continued unabated,' she said.
'Rarity, uniqueness and a finite supply has driven the strong value appreciation we have seen, and continue to see.'