Childhood Friends Uncover the World’s Largest and Most Exquisite Natural Green Diamond!

TWO childhood friends in India are celebrating the discovery of a lifetime after unearthing a green diamond worth more than £40,000.

Satish Khatik, 24 and Sajid Mohammed, 23, made the find in Panna, a town known both for its and its diamond reserves.

The two childhood friends discovered the gem in a pile of dirtCredit: Amit Rathaur They plan to use the proceeds to pay for their sisters’ weddingsCredit: Amit Rathaur

After taking the stone to the city’s official evaluator, they were told they had uncovered a 15.34-carat, gem-quality .

It is considered one of the finest varieties of natural diamonds.

Anupam Singh, the diamond evaluator, said the stone’s estimated market value was between five and six million rupees, or about £41,000 to £49,000.

He explained that prices are influenced by the dollar rate and benchmarks set by the Rapaport report.

This report is widely regarded as the leading authority on independent diamond and jewellery market analysis.

The Indian government holds quarterly auctions that draw buyers from across the country and beyond.

Any diamonds found on leased land must be submitted to the authorities and sold through these official channels.

The two friends were over the moon at the news.

They said the discovery meant they could finally afford to arrange their sisters’ marriages, something that had long weighed on their families.

Khatik, 24, runs a small meat shop, while Mohammed, 23, sells fruit.

Both come from poor backgrounds and are the youngest sons in their respective families.

For generations, their families have searched for diamonds, a common pursuit in Panna, one of India’s least developed districts.

Residents here struggle with poverty, water scarcity and chronic unemployment.

Yet the area is also home to most of the country’s diamond reserves, making it a magnet for hopeful prospectors.

While most mines are operated by the federal government, state authorities lease out small plots of land each year to locals at nominal rates.

With few other job opportunities, many residents spend hours rummaging through dirt, though most come away empty-handed.

Mohammed said his father and grandfather had dug through such plots for decades and found nothing but “dust and slivers of quartz”.

The two friends decided to lease the plot out of desperation, as their modest incomes could no longer keep up with rising household expenses.

Even then, the search was gruelling, with the pair sifting through mounds of soil in the evenings or whenever they could spare time from work.

Ravi Patel, Panna’s district mining officer, said their success was extraordinary.

He noted that they had leased the land on 19 November and were lucky enough to find a gem-quality diamond within just a few weeks.

Although they have yet to receive the proceeds from the auction, Khatik and Mohammed remain cautiously hopeful.

They said they were not yet thinking about buying land, expanding their businesses or moving to a bigger city.

For now, their focus remains on fulfilling a long-held family responsibility of getting their sisters married.

The discovery follows another remarkable find in 2024, when .

Weighing nearly 2,500 carats and valued at millions of dollars, the gemstone came close to breaking a record that has stood for almost 120 years.

That distinction still belongs to the 3,106-carat diamond discovered in in 1905.