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The Hope Diamond is being exhibited in New York after being refitted with a chain of precious stones.

The Hope Diamond is being displayed in New York with its new adornment of a chain of gems.

Complete with a new setting entitled Embracing Hope, the precious stone is exhibited to the public at the city's National Museum of Natural History.

The jewel's new chain is made up of 340 individual baguette diamonds and was crafted as part of the anniversary of the donation of the Hope to the Smithsonian Institution by renowned jeweller Harry Winston, as well as the centenary of the museum.

Viewed by some seven million people annually, the rare blue stone will be showcased with its new setting for one years before being refitted into its original encasement.

A jewel sold by Harry Winston 60 years ago has recently changed hands at auction, with British investor Laurence Graff making a winning offer of £29 million for the rare 'fancy intense pink' diamond, establishing its title as the most expensive ever to have been bid on.

Rio Tinto has made what it is claiming to be the biggest diamond find in the last decade at a site in India.

The Bunder project in the country is "the largest diamond discovery in the last ten years", head of exploration for the mining firm Eric Finlayson was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

He explained the company is now undertaking "a major drilling programme" after has completed a pre-feasibility study and it has applied for a mining lease.

The Bunder project is estimated to have 37 million metric tonnes at a grade of 0.7 carats per tonne for 27.4 million carats and Mr Finlayson added the business is also carrying out further exploration projects elsewhere in the country in a bid to unearth more of the precious stones.

"I'm pretty sure that we'll be successful," he remarked.

Earlier this month, Rio Tinto revealed it is to invest $803 million in expanding it Argyle diamond mine in eastern Australia as it looks to satisfy growing demand for the precious stones.