'Chipembele': World's Largest Uncut Emerald Discovered In Zambia Weighs 1.5kg

Nature is fascinating and the uncut gems it churns out from the earth, are more so. Recently, Guinness World Records confirmed that the world's largest uncut emerald was unearthed in Zambia. Here's what we know so far.

World's largest uncut emerald 'Chipembele' unearthed in Zambia

Guinness World Records

GWR published a blog about a wonderful discovery from Zambia. The newly-discovered uncut emerald reportedly weighs 7,525 carats or 1.505 kg.

Guinness World Records shared that geologists Manas Banerjee and Richard Kapeta discovered the emerald back in 2021 first along with their team in a mine located in Copperbelt Province in Zambia. The gem was then named 'Chipembele,' which in the local dialect of the Bemba people of Zambia means "rhino."

This wasn't the only gem that was found in this Zambia mine, which is owned by Gemfields along with the Industrial Development Corporation of the country's government. Besides Chipembele, two other huge emeralds were previously found at the site. One of them is called Insofu or ¡°elephant¡± which was discovered in 2010. The other one is called Inkalamu or ¡°lion," and it was discovered in 2018.

The wonder of Nature: Insofu
Mined in Kagem, Zambia, this extraordinary emerald was named ¡°Insofu¡± to show respect to its land of origin.
This has to be one of the most important gem discoveries because of the size and quality of this 6,225-carat emerald. #insofu #insofuemerald pic.twitter.com/jkpheuTqI4

¡ª SGL_Labs (@SGL_Labs) May 18, 2022

How did it get recognised as the world's largest?

Soon after the discovery, Chipembele was acquired by Eshed--an international supplier of natural diamonds and emeralds--by the end of 2021. They decided to apply to Guinness World Records suspecting that the gem could make a record and the good news came in April this year. Guinness World Records finally recognised it as the ¡°world¡¯s largest uncut emerald."

The gem reminded people of Kryptonite

After the discovery was published, many people compared it to "kryptonite." A man wrote, ¡°Are you sure that's not Kryptonite?

Facebook Screengrab

¡°I¡¯m worried this will be used against Superman,¡± wrote another guy, referencing how Superman gets vulnerable when exposed to kryptonite. ¡°Superman just left the group,¡± joked a third. ¡°OMG, Superman is in trouble, let's help him... I don't think he will ever travel to Zambia again¡­,¡± commented another user.

Facebook Screenshot

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