Panna: A man operating a small scale brick kiln business has found a 26.11-carat diamond in a shallow mine in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district, an official said on Tuesday.
The precious stone may fetch up to Rs 1.20 crore in the auction, Panna’s diamond officer Ravi Patel said.
Sushil Shukla, a resident of Kishoreganj in Panna town, and his partners found the diamond on Monday in the mine located near Krishna Kalyanpur area, the official said.
The gem will be put up for auction in a couple of days and the proceeds would be given to the miner after the deduction of government royalty and taxes, he said.
Shukla, who runs a small scale brick kiln business on rented land, told reporters that he and his family were also involved in the diamond mining work for the last 20 years, but this was the first time that he unearthed such a big gem.
The man said he had taken the shallow mine, where the diamond was found, on lease along with five partners.
Expressing hope that the gem would fetch more than Rs 1.2 crore, Shukla said, I will use the money that I get after the diamond auction in setting up a business.”
Panna district, located 380 km from the state capital Bhopal, has reserves estimated to be containing diamonds worth 12 lakh carats, according to officials.
In September 2021, four labourers found an 8.22-carat diamond in a mine in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district, after searching for 15 years. The worth of the precious stone is said to be worth around Rs 40 lakhs, which is a fortune for the labourers who had been toiling for years in search of it.
While there are some large-scale mining projects in Panna, there are also others, individuals or small groups who also search for diamonds. These are mostly done on land leased from the government for mining. The Madhya Pradesh government leases 8×8 m plots to individuals, who wash the gravel for diamonds.