The world's largest uncut diamond, Lesedi la Rona was put for auction at London. It has failed to sell at a London auction after bids did not reach the minimum reserve price.

The Lesedi la Rona, which means "our light" in the Tswana language spoken in Botswana, was discovered by Lucara Diamond Corp's Karowe mine.

It is almost the size of a tennis ball and was unearthed in Botswana in November. The rough diamond is 1,109 carats and believed to be more than 2.5 billion years old.

It had been expected to sell for more than £52m ($70m) but the highest bid was about £45m ($61m).

The auction at Sotheby's was the first time a rough diamond of such a size has gone on public sale.

The auction house had called its discovery "the find of a lifetime" and earlier said that "every aspect of this auction is unprecedented".

After it failed to sell, the Canada-based company which has retained possession of the diamond saw its stock fall more than 14% on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Stones in this group are said to be "the most chemically pure and often show extraordinary optical transparency".

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BY M. DIVYA SHRI