Debt-ridden India labourer digs up diamond worth US$95,000

An Indian labourer’s fortunes have changed overnight after he found a massive diamond in a mine in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

The 19.22-carat diamond is expected to fetch about 8m rupees (US$95,570; £74,000) in a government auction.

Raju Gound said he had been leasing mines in Panna city for more than 10 years in the hope of finding a diamond.

Panna is famed for its diamond reserves and people often lease cheap, shallow mines from the government to hunt for the precious stone.

The federal government’s National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) runs a mechanised diamond mining project in Panna.

It also leases out shallow mines to individuals, families and co-operative groups who look for diamonds, usually with basic tools and equipment.

Any finds are handed over to the government diamond office, which then evaluates the stone.

“These mines can be leased for about 200-250 rupees [for a specific period],” Anupam Singh, an official at the state government’s diamond office, told the BBC.

In 2018, a labourer from Bundelkhand found a diamond worth 15m rupees in a mine in Panna. However, such discoveries are rare.

Mr Singh said that while many people have found smaller stones, Mr Gound’s find was notable because of its size.

Mr Gound told the BBC that his father had leased the mine in Krishna Kalyanpur Patti village near Panna about two months ago.

He said his family leases mines mostly during the monsoon season when agricultural and masonry work dry up.

“We are very poor and have no other source of income. So we do this in the hope of making some money,” he said.

He had heard stories of people chancing upon diamonds and hoped that he too would get lucky one day.

On Wednesday morning, he went to the site to perform his daily task of manually searching for the precious stone.

“It’s tedious work. We dig a pit, pull out chunks of soil and rock, wash them in a sieve and then carefully sift through thousands of dried, tiny stones to look for diamonds,” he said.

And that afternoon, all that hard work paid off and his luck turned.

“I was sifting through the stones and saw something that resembled a piece of glass. I held it up to my eyes and saw a faint glint. That’s when I knew I had found a diamond,” he said.

Mr Gound then took his prized find to the government diamond office, where it was evaluated and weighed.

Mr Singh said the diamond would be sold in the next government auction and that Mr Gound would receive his compensation after the government royalty and taxes were deducted.

Mr Gound hopes to build a better house for his family with the money and even pay for his children’s education. But first, he wants to pay off his debt of 500,000 rupees.

He says he’s not afraid of people finding out about the diamond as he plans to divide the money between 19 relatives who live with him.

For now, he’s content just knowing that the money will come to him.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the mine again to look for diamonds,” he said.