Seven labourers strike it rich after finding diamond worth Rs 50 lakh in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Seven labourers strike it rich after finding diamond worth Rs 50 lakh in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna")
Representative image. Photograph: (Magnific)
Seven labourers in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district found a 17.96-carat gem-quality diamond worth at least Rs 50 lakh in a jointly leased mine. The stone will be auctioned in October.
Seven labourers in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district have struck fortune after discovering a 17.96-carat diamond. Officials have estimated that the stone could fetch at least Rs 50 lakh at a government auction scheduled for October. The diamond was found in a mine in Sarokha village that had been jointly leased by the seven men two years ago. The stone has been classified as “gem quality,” making it one of the finer varieties of natural diamonds found in the region.
Ravi Patel, an official with the Panna diamond office, described the stone as “precious” and said it would be put up for auction in the first half of October, when buyers from India and abroad are expected to participate.
The discovery is unusual because the labourers themselves hold the lease for the mining plot. In many cases, workers in Panna’s diamond mines are employed by lease-holders and do not receive the proceeds from major finds. In this case, after the government deducts a 12 per cent royalty, the remaining amount will be divided equally among the seven men.
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One of the lease-holders, Akhilesh Pal, said the group had almost given up on the mine after failing to find diamonds for nearly two years.
“We had been mining there for about two years,” he said, “but we had no luck, so we closed the mine for a year. We had started another mine right next to it.”
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He said the diamond was found when they returned to inspect the abandoned pit after recent heavy rains.
“When we went there to inspect the new one, we also looked inside the old mine, and that’s where we found it - right on top,” Pal said.
Panna, which holds most of India’s diamond reserves, has long attracted fortune seekers despite widespread poverty, unemployment and water scarcity. According to reports, three of the labourers said that they had been unable to marry because of financial hardship. The diamond discovery could now dramatically alter their circumstances.
