To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Argyle mines, Rio Tinto’s 2009 Argyle Pink Diamond Tender is offering 43 pink diamonds of exceptional quality. The tender also includes 4 heart shaped pink diamonds.
The tender titled grand passions is said to comprise of 43 of the rarest pink diamonds from the Argyle Diamond Mine. Presently Rio Tinto’s Argyle Diamond Mine is the worlds largest producer of pink diamonds. There is increased demand for pink diamonds, considering the fact that Argyle Diamond Mine has only about ten years before the mine is exhausted.
How rare are pink diamonds? Argyle Diamond Mines produces about 35 million carats per annum. 50% is industrial grade diamonds. 45% is near gem quality diamonds. Only 5% is gem quality diamonds. Of the gem quality diamonds 80% are brown diamonds, 16% are yellow diamonds, 2% grey diamonds, 2% white diamonds and only less than 1% are fancy colored diamonds such as pink, red and green. The Great Chrysanthemum is a large 104.16 fancy golden brown diamond from the Argyle Mines.
This years tender includes a heart shaped 2.61 intense pink diamond named the Argyle Armour. It is said to be the most valuable heart shaped pink diamond ever produced from the Argyle Diamond Mines. Other notable diamondsin the tender include the Argyle Shalimar diamond a 1.25 carat purplish pink diamond round diamond. and the Argyle Scarlett diamond a 1.10 carat red oval cut diamond .The Argyle Shalimar was named after the exotic garden which was built by the Indian Emperor Jahangir for his beloved wife.
The Argyle Pink Diamond Tender will be presented for the first time in Mumbai, India.
The tender can be viewed at Mumbai- India on August 6th to 10th, Perth-Australia on September 1 to 11th and Hong Kong on September 19th to 27th.
