A 10.69 carat diamond valued at approximately Rs 50 lakh has been dug up from a shallow diamond mine in Madhya Pradesh’s Panna district, a mineral resources department official said on Tuesday. The mine was leased by a labourer who does odd jobs to earn a living.
Thirty five-year-old Anandilal Kushwaha owns the lease of the 8m X 8m shallow mine in Ranipura area of the district where the diamond was found, according to the officer. Usually, such a shallow diamond mine of 64 square metres is awarded on a lease for Rs 200 for six months, as per the officer.
Mineral resources department officer at Panna, RK Pandey said, “Anandilal Kushwaha deposited the 10.69 carat diamond to our office and it may fetch about Rs 50 lakh when it is auctioned in the coming days.”
He said, “The quality of the diamond is good and it is palm shaped which will require less cutting. A royalty tax of 11.5% and 1% TDS will be deducted from the amount of money received through the auction.”
This is the second time that Kushwaha has found a diamond in his mine.
{{/usCountry}}This is the second time that Kushwaha has found a diamond in his mine.
{{/usCountry}}“I was excited to have this diamond during Covid time and lockdown restrictions. It’s all due to God’s grace. This is the second time when I have found a diamond but earlier the size of the diamond I had dug up on July 14 was 70-cent.”
Kushwaha had engaged eight other people to help him dig the mine. He said that he will distribute the money from the auction of the diamond equally among everyone.
“Though the (lease of the) mine was awarded to me, I will distribute the amount fetched from auction of the diamond equally among all nine of us as it was our collective efforts in the past six months that we could get such a precious stone. I will spend the money on the education of my son and daughter and other requirements of the family. But one thing is certain that I will continue to apply for lease of mines.”