Sierra Leone plans to sell 709-carat diamond in NY auction

Freetown, Sierra Leone

OFFICIALS in Sierra Leone said on Tuesday that it plans to auction off a massive 709-carat diamond at a December sale in New York, aiming to make a clean break with the "blood diamonds" of its past.

The stone, which was unearthed in March, is the largest discovered in Sierra Leone in almost a half-century and is between the 10th and 15th largest ever found worldwide, experts said.