Sierra Leone sells diamond for $6.5m

One of the world’s largest diamonds was sold for $6.5m by Sierra Leone on Monday to fund local development projects, dealing a blow to smugglers in the West African nation.

The egg-sized, 709-carat diamond found by a Christian pastor was bought at auction in New York by Laurence Graff, a British jeweller, according to the Rapaport Group, the international diamond trading network that handled the sale.

Of the proceeds of the stone, dubbed the Peace Diamond, the government would get 59%, or about $3.9m, in tax revenue to fund clean water, electricity, schools, health centres and roads, said Martin Rapaport of the Rapaport Group.

“As a government, particularly in Africa, it has always been the narration of corruption, and the mineral wealth is not benefiting the people,” said Abdulai Bayraytay, a spokesman for Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma.

The auction marked the first time a diamond found in Sierra Leone was put up for public sale. State officials said they hoped it would be a step towards ending the illicit diamond trade.

Diamonds fuelled the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s. Rebels forced civilians to mine the stones and bought weapons with the proceeds, leading to the term “blood diamonds”.

The UN lifted a ban on diamond exports from Sierra Leone in 2003, but the sector is still plagued by smuggling.

The balance of the proceeds would go to a local group overseeing the development projects, the pastor and other miners who found the diamond and gave it to the government, Rapaport said.

“It will encourage all the diggers back home,” said Paul Ngaba Saquee, head of Sierra Leone’s eastern Kono district, where the diamond was found in March.

THE GOVERNMENT WILL GET ABOUT $3.9M … TO FUND WATER, ELECTRICITY, SCHOOLS, HEALTH CENTRES AND ROADS

“Instead of being ripped off in some dark corners when they find their diamonds, they will bring it and put it on the table in front of the government. Maybe this is going to be the beginning of a new day in Sierra Leone.”

A first effort to sell the diamond failed in May, when Sierra Leone rejected the highest bid of $7.8m.

This time, the stone was shown to about 70 potential buyers and seven bids were submitted, according to Rapaport.