A miner in eastern Sierra Leone has discovered the seventh biggest raw diamond ever found, according to information given on Tuesday by authorities in the West African country. Lawrence Ndola Myers, general manager of the government's Gold and Diamond Office, told Reuters the stone weighing 750 carats was found on Saturday in the southeastern Kenema district. He said the diamond was being transported under police guard to his office in the capital Freetown for valuation. It was not clear what the miner himself would gain from the discovery. Most miners in Sierra Leone earn very little. The largest rough diamond ever found weighed 3,106.75 carats and was discovered in 1905 in South Africa, dwarving all others. The second-largest was found 12 years earlier also in South Africa and weighed 995.2 carats, according to rankings published by gem trade companies. Sierra Leone's diamond wealth was one of the main factors in its 10-year civil war, which ended in 2002, as armed groups fought for control of mineral fields in a conflict widely regarded as one of the most brutal of recent decades.
