If you like big rocks, then you’ll love this beast of an emerald discovered in Zambia in early October.

The emerald was discovered in the eastern part of Kagem’s largest open-pit mine by geologist Debapriya Rakshit and veteran emerald miner Richard Kapeta.

It’s been weighed at 5 655-carats, and described as having “remarkable clarity and a perfectly balanced golden green hue”, reports Forbes.

Quite the find:

The gem was unearthed at the Kagem mine, the world’s largest emerald mine, which is 75% owned by Gemfields Group, a London-based supplier of responsibly sourced colored gemstones, with the remaining stake in the mine owned by the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

Gemfields specializes in the mining, processing, marketing and sale of colored gemstones, in particular emeralds and rubies.

Gemfields decided to name the gem “Inkalamu”, which means “lion” in the Zambian Bemba language. The company named the emerald in honour of two of Gemfields’ conservation partners, the Zambian Carnivore Program and the Niassa Carnivore Project in Mozambique.

According to The Herald, high-quality Zambian emeralds have been in high demand across the globe.

“The discovery of this exceptional gemstone is such an important moment both for us and for the emerald world in general” comments Gemfields’ London-based gemmologist Elena Basaglia..

“We are experiencing strikingly increased demand for high quality Zambian emeralds from the major brands, particularly in Europe, all of whom admire the rich colour and unique transparency of our gems – qualities that make them unique among emeralds.

“It’s difficult to estimate how many individual gems will be cut from Inkalamu, but the cutting expertise of Gemfields’ auction partners will mean that this gemstone will make its mark in the history books of exceptional gemstones. This lion’s resulting offspring – ‘The Pride of Inkalamu’ so to speak – will continue the legacy for generations to come!”.\

Historically, only two dozen or so emeralds have merited their own name, with most of them weighing less than 1 000 carats. Inkalamu will be auctioned, and 10% of the proceeds will be divided between the conservation charities that inspired the gem’s name.

The price for exceptionally large emeralds like Inkalamu is particularly difficult to predict. A quick geology lesson:

The emeralds found in Gemfields’ Kagem mine were formed more than 450 million years ago when a rare combination of in situ minerals and surging magma from deep within the Earth’s crust encountered one another and supported just the right conditions for emerald crystal growth.

To paraphrase and take some liberties with the famous song – emeralds are a girl’s best friend.

[sources:forbes&herald]