A total of 9,700 carats of rough diamonds will be put up for auction in Mumbai by mining company NMDC, on September 16-17, 2010. These diamonds have been sourced from the company’s Panna mines in Madhya Pradesh and are expected to be of less than 5 carat each.

The company expects to raise around $1 million from the auction. The diamonds will be put up for viewing in Mumbai from September 13 to 15, 2010.

The Panna mines are expected to have reserves of 12 lakh carats of diamonds. It is believed to be Asia’s biggest mechanised diamond mine.