An iconic fine jewellery set adorned with Argyle diamonds from Rio Tinto’s Australian mine recently made its debut in New York.

The US$1.1million necklace and ring known as Argyle Dreaming™ were created by international designer, master craftsman and jeweller John Calleija. The rare diamond set pays homage to the ancient landscape and majestic colours of the east Kimberley region of Western Australia, which is home to the 1.6 billion-year-old Argyle gems, according to Rio Tinto.

Comprising 673 pink, white, yellow, blue and champagne Argyle diamonds and 237 grams of Rio Tinto’s Kennecott gold, Argyle Dreaming™ took over 800 hours to create.

The necklace features a 3.55-carat white Argyle diamond centre stone, which can be switched with the ring’s Argyle champagne diamond centre gem. Argyle’s fancy colour diamonds in the shades of pink, blue and yellow are accented throughout the design.

Rio Tinto’s Argyle diamond mine is the world’s largest producer of coloured diamonds. The mine will close in 2020 after almost four decades of production. Rio Tinto’s Kennecott mine is a fully integrated mining operation located outside Salt Lake City in Utah, producing gold and silver as a by-product of its copper production.

The Argyle Dreaming™ necklace and ring are to be showcased in New York and London before returning to Calleija’s stores in Australia.