Diamond Facts

• Diamonds are 180 times stronger than emeralds




• The Queen was the first British monarch to celebrate a diamond wedding anniversary




• To day all children in Botswana have access to free education because of diamond revenue.




• Approximately 65% of diamonds come from African countries.


• This image belongs to www.diamondring.com/journal/372-pink-diamonds/
  
  
  The number of conflict diamonds have decreased from 4% to less than 1% since the Kimberley process which started in 2003.




• Fewer than 1000 rough diamonds weighting less than 100 carats have ever been found.




• The first ever reference to diamonds is found in the bible, when it mentions a diamond mounted on a priests breastplate.




• Diamonds are one of the hardest natural substances on earth. But if heated at a very high temperature in an oven (approximately 763 degrees Celsius) The diamond will disintegrate and vanish leaving only a trace of carbon diamond.




• Aproximatly 1 million people are employed by the diamond industry in India.

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My Video

I decided to include this video on the diamond trade in sierra Leone, because although diamonds can be perceived as very glamours, expensive gems, they in actual fact the cause of thousands of death, amputations and slavery in central and west Africa especially in sierra Leone and it is important to know the truth behinds these precious stones.

Blood/Conflict diamonds

Blood or conflict diamonds, are diamonds that come from a war conflict area, that are controlled by rebel groups, who use the sales of diamonds to fund their military actions. The Rebels use mostly children as slaves and prisoners to do the work of digging alluvial pits to find the diamonds. This is a big problem in central and west Africa, for instance Sierra Leone where the Rebel group Revolutionary United front (RUF) are very
powerful, they enslave thousands of men, women and children to work in their mines. Anyone who oopses their horrific methods and practices were brutally punished or killed. (Amputation is extremely common among men, women and children in sierra Leone when the RUF are seizing control of diamond mines to deter locals from supporting the government )

Certain things have been done to try and stop the selling of conflict diamonds. It is KPCS (Kimberley process certification scheme)that stepped in and organised a meeting of all the south African diamond producing countries in Kimberly in south Africa to plan a method where by the selling of conflict diamonds can be haltered, and buyers can be assured that they are not adding to the violence. The United National General Assemble adopted a resolution supporting the creation of an international certification scheme for rough diamonds. Any country that wants to join must ensure diamonds originating from their country must not aid rebel groups or any other group that wants to over throw a UN-recognised government, that every diamond must come with a kimberley Process certificate and no diamond can come from or be exported to a non member of that scheme.

That image is of country members of the Kimberley Process. The Image belongs to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process.

Famous Diamonds

The Cullinan/Star of Africa --> Is the largest cut diamond in the world. It has 3106 carats. It was named after Sir Thomas Cullinan, Chair of the mining Company. It formed part of the sceptre of King Edward VII and is kept in the tower of London.

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The Tiffany--> The best know yellow diamond. It was found in De Beers mine in Kimberly in 1878 and weighted 287.47 carats. It was then brought by Charles Lewis Tiffany, the famous fith avenu Jeweller, and was cut in Paris in a cushion shape.

This image belongs to www.jbestdiamonds.com/tiffany.php

The Koh-I-Noor ("Montain of Light")--> It was first found in 1304, it weighted 186 carats and was used in the famous peacock throne of Shah Jehan. It was then recut in the reign of Queen victoria, and is amoung the British Crown Jewels.

This image belongs t ohttp://www.thepicky.com/popular/curse-of-largest-known-diamond-in-the-world-koh-i-noor/

The Taylor-Burton--> the pear shapped 69.42 carat diamond was sold at auction in 1969 with the understanding that the buyer could name it. Cartier of New York successfully bid for it and immideatly named it "Cartier". However the next day, Richard Burton brought the stone for Elizabeth Tylor for an undisclosed sum, renaming it the "Taylor-Burton".

This image belongs to http://www.diamondring.com/journal/808-harry-winston-snowflake-celebrity/

The Blue Hope --> Is known better than any other diamond, The hope was once owned by Lowis XIV and was offically designated "The blue diamond of the crown." Stolen during the French revolution, it turned up in London in 1830 and was bought by Henry Philip Hope after whom it is currently named. It was while the diamond was in the possession of the Hope faimly that it got its gruesome reputation for bad luck. All his family died in poverty. A similar misfortune happened to a later owner, Edward McLean. It is now in the smithsonian Institution in Washington and weighs 45.52 carats. That image belongs to http://www.visitingdc.com/museum/hope-diamond-picture.htm

Mining Diamonds

There is two main types of diamond mining; pipe mining and alluvial. Diamonds are mined today in about 25 countries, in every continent but Europe and Antarctica.
Pipe mining involves using volcanic pipes in the earths surface. volcanic pipes are generally composed of kimberlite which is dug away from the surface of the earth in rough open cast mining, they are natural pipes in the ground not man made. Once the material on the surface has been used up, shafts are put next to the pipes and tunnels are driven into the deepest part of the pipe. Once the rocks containing rough diamonds are brought to the surface they are then transported to the screening plants where the diamonds are separated from the rock.

How Diamonds are formed

There is a lot of carbon which is the only element that makes up diamonds in the upper mantle of a volcano because of the rock that melts there. Huge and specific amounts of heat, chemistry and pressure make the carbon atoms melt but when the tempature decreases they crystallise forming diamonds. It takes thousands of years for the mantle to cirrulate to the surface of the earth, some geologic events (earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.) also force the rocks to the surface in a number of ways, such as alluvial deposits (in riverbeds) or kimberlite pipes (primary diamond mines) they then can be minded as rough diamonds.





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