De Beers Canada has an agreement with the Province of Ontario that ten percent of the gem quality diamonds produced from the Victor Mine will be cut in Ontario. The problem is finding cutters who have skills that match the quality of the stones.
Throughout the 20th century most people would never have thought about Canada being an important producer of diamonds. But in 1991 two geologists found evidence of kimberlite pipes about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Soon Canada became one of the world’s leading diamond producers.
“A new study suggests that some stars in the Milky Way could harbor “carbon super-Earths” – giant terrestrial planets that contain up to 50 percent diamond.” Quoted from the Ohio State University press release.
This video shows how Raffi Stepanian finds gold and diamonds in the cracks of Manhattan sidewalks. I don’t know if he really making 300 bucks per day but his techniques are interesting!
“Buying Gem Rough” is an interesting article by Lisa Elser. She provides some tips on evaluating the rough, the people you are buying from, and how you will utilize what you buy.
Ten years ago very few diamonds were being sold in China but today the country is the second largest consumer of gem diamonds with an annual consumption of about $8 billion.
Part of an exploration map - Wyoming Geological Survey
The United States is the world’s leading consumer of diamonds, spending billions of dollars per year on the gem. Although domestic production is currently just a few hundred carats, there is a potential for production in several states.
A 110-carat vivid yellow, pear-shaped diamond that was mined in South Africa will be auctioned next week in Geneva. It is expected to bring up to $15 million. YouTube Video.
Anglo American has negotiated a deal that will give them 85% of the outstanding stock of De Beers, a company that has dominated the diamond industry for about 100 years.
In the third quarter of 2011, the Diavik DiamondMine in Canada’s Northwest Territories produced 1.9 million carats of rough diamond from 600,000 tons of ore. For the calendar year they expect to produce 6.9 million carats from 2 million tons of ore.
“Scientists at Carnegie’s Geophysical Laboratory are part of a team that has discovered a new form of carbon, which is capable of withstanding extreme pressure stresses that were previously observed only in diamond.” Quoted from the Carnegie Institution for Science news release.
Diamond is the world’s most popular gemstones and it’s qualities as the hardest natural substance make it an excellent abrasive. However, diamond is used for many other things which include: heat sink, speaker dome, laser windows and microbearings.
Stephen Blumberg, a jeweler in Quincy, Massachusetts, explains how the high price of gold has changed the traffic in his jewelry store and the types of things that people are buying.
DeBeers has long been the world’s leading company for mining, manufacturing and marketing gem and industrial diamond products. Now the company is offering venture capital to proposals that focus on creating new technological markets for their synthetic diamond products.
“Diamond may be the ideal substance for MEMS devices,” says NIST’s Craig McGray. “It can withstand extreme conditions, plus it’s able to vibrate at the very high frequencies that new consumer electronics demand. But it’s very hard, of course, and there hasn’t been a way to engineer it very precisely at small scales. We think our method can accomplish that.” Quoted from the NIST press release.
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