Gem Diamonds Limited (LON:GEMD) has recovered another diamond of over 100 carats from the Letšeng mine in Lesotho.
The FTSE small cap group said the 115 carat, top white colour Type IIa diamond is the ninth stone of over 100 carats recovered in 2018.
READ: Gem Diamonds shares jump as it recovers 169 carat diamond in South Africa
It pointed out that this already exceeds the total number of diamonds of over 100 carats recovered in 2017.
The Letšeng mine is the highest dollar per carat kimberlite diamond mine in the world.
In early morning trading, Gem Diamonds shares were 2.3% higher at 112.5p.
Meanwhile, Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) said rough diamond sales by its De Beers unit in the fourth sales cycle of 2018 were about 5.0% higher than the year prior amid "robust" demand.
In an update, the FTSE 100-listed firm said De Beers fourth cycle sales were a provisional US$550mln, up from the US$522mln reported in the fourth cycle of 2017 and the US$524mln sales reported for the third cycle of 2018.
De Beers’ chief executive officer Bruce Cleaver said. "In the fourth sales cycle of the year we saw robust demand for De Beers' rough diamonds, reflecting continued strong demand for diamond jewellery, especially from American consumers as we head towards the important JCK Las Vegas trade show at the start of June,"
In 2017, De Beers generated around 22% of Anglo American's revenue of US$26.24bn.