Everything You Wanted To Know About Diamonds

Gem diamonds were first found in streambeds in Brazil and India. Diamonds are the element of carbon that is produced by an extremly high pressure situation on lime stone. Diamonds is the hardest naturally occuring substance found in the Earth and it is the most attractive of all stones due to its shiny characteristic. Diamonds are sought after and admired because of their strength and beauty.

Diamonds are generally colourless, transparent and crystalline substance. The formation of diamonds takes place deep below the Earth's surface. Researchers have found that the age of diamond is different from the rock in which it is found. It is difficult to age diamonds but a few have been aged a million years or more.

It takes 5 to 10 tons of Lamporite ore or kimberlite ore to get 1 carat of diamond. This rough diamond then produces only 5% gem quality material because of this high waste diamond mining is done on a huge scale, that is why many countries having diamonds do not tap into them as a resource , it is not simply worth it. The three major ways through which diamond is mined is through allluvial river bottoms , vertical planes of volcanic ore and remote stretches of beaches. Diamond mines end up looking like big lifeless holes in ground, big scars on the ground after the bulldozers are done.

The highest concentration for diamond bearing Kimberlite is in southern and western Africa, Venezuala and Borneo. Brazil , Russia and Australia produce a lot of world industrial quality diamond. It is believed that diamonds were first discoverd in Brazil in 1670. These deposits were not made much productive until the period of 1721 to 1870. Brazil does not supply a large amount of the world's diamond any more. Over 95% of the world's diamond come out of Kimberlite in Africa. Out of the 21 countries that mine diamond 12 are in south Africa.

An unpolished , uncut diamond is not very appealing. Lot of cutting polishing are to be done to make the diamond attractive. In the 17th centuary special device called Mazarin was created to cut diamonds.

Since diamond is the hardest naturally occuring substance it is used for grinding and cutting other hard substancs like rubies or emerald. It is also used for fashion eye glasses and computer chips. Diamond is also critical for drilling in masonry. The newest use has been made to make blades for surgery. Scientist have discovered that diamond have been formed in metamorphic terrains, which ends the previous belief that volcanoes were the only place where diamond surfaced.

There seems to be no end to the pool of diamonds beneath the Earth. The expert of diamond says that they are here to remain forever.