Where Diamonds Come From
It's hard to believe that that beautiful, brilliant stone in your ring was once sitting
in the earth, isn't it?
But it was and there's quite a few diamonds still there in fact about 120 million carats of diamonds are mined each year.
There
are currently two methods of mining
diamonds: Alluvial Mining and Pipe Mining.
The Alluvial mining method is done on beaches and in
riverbeds. When using this method, the water and sand on the bank are held back with man made walls, or a bulldozer is used to move the beach until the level of earth containing diamonds is reached. The diamonds are not sorted right there, instead the sand that has the diamonds in it is loaded into trucks and
taken to screening plants.
With pipe mining,
the diamonds
are extracted from the earth through volcanic
pipes.
These pipes are natural - not man made. Shanks are
put in the ground next to these pipes, and
then tunnels are driven into the deepest parts of the pipe.
Using this method, gigantic rocks that are full of diamonds are taken out of the mine and then moved to screening plants for sorting.
There are many diamond mines in operation around the world.
Some of the major ones include:
The worlds largest diamond min is Orapa which is located 240 Km west of
Francistown.
This mine is owned by a partnership between the government of Botswana and DeBeers named "Debswana".
The
mine operates 7 days a
week and is the oldest one owned by Debswana.
It offers schools for its employee's children as well as a hospital and game
park.
Orapa began production in 1971.
The Argye mine I slocated in the Kimberley region in Western Australia.
Owned by Rio Tinto, this mine has the distinction of being the world's
largest single producer of volume of
diamonds.
Unfortunately there is a low proportion of
gem quality diamonds so it is not the value
leader.
It does, however,
produce 90-95% of the
world's supply of pink diamonds.
Diavik is another mine owned by Rio Tinto and located in
Canada.
It is on an island north of Yellowknife and south of the Artic Circle.
The island,
connected
by an ice road is an important part of
the regions economy and employs
more than
700 people. This mine produces more than 8 million
carats annually.
Ekati diamond mine is located south of the artic circle
in the Northwest Territories of Canada and owned by BHP Billiton.
The Ekati is Canada's first operational
diamond mine and the diamonds are sold under the Aurias trade name.
The
Baken diamond mine is located in South Africa along the
lower Orange River.
It is
owned and operated by Trans Hex.
The
average size stone for 2004 was 1.29
carats.
In 2004, this mine produced a
78.9 carat D color flawless diamond that
sold for more than 1.8 million dollars (US),
as well as a 27.67 pink diamond that was
sold for over 1 million US dollars.
The largest diamond ever was produced by the Premier mine in Cullinan, South
Africa in 1905.
Named The Cullinan Diamond
it weighed a whopping 3,106.75 carats.
This same mine also
produced the Golden Jubilee diamond
which weighed in at 545.67 carats.
In 2003, this mine, owned by De Beers was renamed The Cullinan Diamond Mine.
.
where you can find out more about handmade jewelry, diamonds and other gem stones.
Buying A Diamond For Your Special Person?
The first thing you want to consider when buying a diamond is the price. If the price of the diamond sounds too good to be true, then be very careful?Diamond crystals were created deep within the core of our Earth more than 3 billion years ago and now brought closer to the surface of the earth by volcanic eruptions. Today, more than 250 tons of ore are needed to create just one carat round diamond. Even then, only 20% of all the rough diamonds are suitable even for gem cutting. The rest of the ore is then used for industrial purposes.So then why would a diamond merchant discount the price on a genuinely good quality diamond that is a billion years old? The answer is because the original selling price was inflated to begin with.
A brilliantly cut diamond in a showcase that is discounted but was last year's model, has not lost its value? You usually get what you pay for.You just need to be careful when you're ordering on the Internet, Mailorder, TV "home shopping" stations, street...
Buying A Diamond For Your Special Person?
Diamonds > Buying A Diamond For Your Special Person?
Diamonds ? More than Just a Girl?s Best Friend
Everyone is familiar with the use of diamonds for making beautiful jewelry.
Nobody demonstrated that more convincingly than Marilyn Monroe in the movie "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend."
But although diamonds are used to make some of the most beautiful jewelry in the world, many people don't realize that the major use of diamonds is not for jewelry but in industry.
Three-fourths of all diamonds that are mined are used in industry.
This is because the diamond is the hardest natural substance known to man.
The word "diamond" is derived from the Greek word "adamas" meaning "unconquerable."
The name fits well, because the only thing that can cut a diamond is another diamond.
One of the major industrial uses of diamonds is to make tools.
Diamond tools can be used to cut, drill, and grind away any kind of surface.
Because they are so hard, they also last longer than regular tools.
...
Diamonds > Diamonds ? More than Just a Girl?s Best Friend
Diamonds
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