Alrosa's 'diamond in a diamond' is not for sale

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(Kitco News) -  The unusual diamond within another diamond moving freely inside that ALROSA mined earlier this year will be added to its collection of rare finds, the Russian miner announced today.

ALROSA said its rare collection includes items such as a skull-shaped diamond and a football-shaped diamond. ALROSA's notes that its collection of rare stones is not for sale.

The diamond with another one moving freely inside it was discovered at the Nyurba Mining and Processing Division.

"The experts have never seen such stones in the history of diamond mining," said ALROSA in a news release. "Usually some parts of a mineral are replaced by others without a cavity. On the other hand, regular diamonds may have small gas-liquid inclusions. However, such large cavities have never been found in crystals before."

Regarding the origin of the diamond, ALROSA researchers hypothesize that both internal and external diamonds were formed at the same time.

ALROSA said the diamond in a diamond weighs only 0.62 carats (0.124 grams) and has maximum dimensions of 4.8 x 4.9 x 2.8 mm. The internal cavity volume is 6 cubic mm and the internal crystal volume is 1.6 cubic mm with an estimated weight of 0.02 carats (0.004 grams). The inner diamond has a tabular shape and dimensions of 1.9×2.1×0.6 mm.