WHAT EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT DIAMONDS

DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS BEST FRIEND

But the most fascinating fact about Diamonds is, that virtually each and every Diamond  is at least a billion or more years old some as old as 3.3 billion years.  According to gemmological scientists, the world's oldest known Diamonds found  in Western Australia are 4.25 billion years old.  Diamonds started to form inside the Earth's mantle more than 3 billion years ago due to extreme heat and pressure. In this environment, the carbon atoms inside a Diamond uniquely bond in pyramid crystalline structures; it is this composition which makes Diamonds so vital for industrial applications. These and other unique properties are what makes Diamonds the most sought after gems in the world so much so that its  demand outweighing its  supply. 

The  hardness Diamond has been superseded by two new materials. The first called OACC  (Ordered Amorphous Carbon Clusters) and the second ADNRs (Aggregated diamond nanorods).

Blue and White Diamond, Wedding and Eternity Rings in White Gold.

Diamonds can roughly be described by four descriptors viz, Carat: which refers to the weight of the diamond. 1 carat equals 200 miligrams. Colour: which refers to how white a gem is and ranges from D to K or even L to M, The best Colour is D which is called Ice White and referred to a River Diamonds.  Cut: refers to to the shape of the Diamond which could be a Princess Cut, Brilliant round cut (RBC), Emerald cut, Marquise, etc... RBC being the most common shape. Clarity: refers to the quantity of carbon particles inside the diamond that will inhibit light reflection. The  code for clarity ranges from F for Flawless, IF for internally flawless, VVS for very very small inclusions, VS for very small inclusion. F to VVS inclusions are not visible to the naked eye and a 10x jewelers loupe is required to see them. I stands for inclusion, and any Diamond with grading I, I2 I3 or any other grading implies inclusions that are visible with the naked eye. But more about this later.

Modern diamond mining started in the 1870s in South Africa, after the Star of  South Africa 
Diamond (83.5 carats) was found on the banks of the Orange River. This started the Diamond
rush by 1888  in Kimberley. Soon prospecting increased and more diamonds were discovered 
in other Southern African locations. The diamond industry has since expanded across 
Southern Africa, making it the primary global location for diamond sources today.

The old adage "Diamonds are Forever", is a truism that few realize. Diamonds have been around virtually forever and will definitely still be around for a long, long time after the demise of you and me. Diamonds therefore makes the best heirlooms, ever appreciating in value. Diamonds are scratch resistance because it's the hardest natural material known making Diamonds the hardest gemstone in the world.  Diamonds can cut glass and even steel which makes them sought after for industrial applications among which are cutting, drilling, grinding and electronic superconductor applications. Diamonds are so hard they are almost indestructible. 

Not every diamond mined will end up on a engagement or wedding ring,  necklace, broach or other jewelry item. Only about 30% of all Diamonds are sold for their gem quality, the remaining 70% of Diamonds are sold for industrial applications.  Regardless of this, Diamonds are very, very expensive because of the exorbitant cost incurred in mining to recover them from the its blue rock (kimberlite). But that's beside the cost of expertise to assess the rough Diamonds prior to cutting and polishing. The value add of cutting and polishing is what brings out the Diamond's magnificence, glitter and luster. Essentially the more perfect the cut the better the light reflection and the greater the luminance. 

The Perfect Diamond is completely transparent without any color, but in reality virtually no gem-sized natural rough diamond is absolutely perfect or transparent, they tend to have inclusions, which actually make each one unique. Inclusions are imperfections and pin pricks of black carbon visible inside Diamonds.  Every Diamond doesn't have the same luminance, brightness and colour, hence they are divided by Colour and Clarity.  In fact  there are thousands of different categories into which Diamonds can be sorted, dependent on size, shape, quality and colour. The majority of natural  Diamonds however fall within a range from colourless and a subtle yellow tint.  As such Diamonds with a less than subtle color difference towards yellow  are normally discounted in price, whereas the colour intense Diamonds known as "fancies" are dramatically more valuable.  "Fancies" range  from black,  to gray, to blue, to orange, to red,  to pink,  to yellow, to purple,  to champagne,  to brown,  to green or to  white. 

Red Diamonds are the rarest but Blue Diamonds are highly prized. The famous 45.52 carat  Hope Diamond is steel Blue with a current estimated value $300 to $350 million US. The 273.85 carat Centenary Diamond is the highest grade White Diamond totally colorless, both  internally and externally flawless. It is also 6 times the carat weight of the Blue Hope Diamond but valued at  $100 million US, a mere third or the Hope Diamond. Pink Diamonds are however the most expensive. 

Diamonds are found in many countries around the world, but the majority (approximately 65%) are found in Africa. The main Diamond producing countries are South Africa, Botswana, Angola, Namibia,  Democratic Republic of Congo,  Australia, Canada and Russia. This gives rise to the Diamond industry which currently produce an estimated $13 billion US worth of rough Diamonds annually with  approximately $8.5 billion US worth originating from Africa.  Globally  Diamond jewelry sales exceed $72 billion US annually and employs approximately ten million people around the world,  ranging the spectrum from mining to retail.  

Diamond ring, Diamond rings, diamond earring, diamond earrings, diamond brooch, diamond broaches, diamond pendant, diamond pendants, diamond studded watch, diamond studded watches, engagement ring, engagement rings, engagement earring, engagement earrings, diamond necklace, diamond necklaces, diamond tennis bracelet, diamond tennis bracelets, diamond bracelet, diamond bracelets, diamond jewelry, diamond jewelery, diamond jewels, what every women needs to know about diamonds, diamond grades, diamond colour, diamond clarity, diamond carat, GIA diamond grading certificates, GIA graded diamonds, EGL graded diamonds, EGL diamond grading certificates, AGS diamond grading certificates, AGS graded diamonds, what every woman should know about diamonds, what you should know about buying diamonds, diamonds are forever, diamonds are a girl's best friend, the diamond gallery, the diamond mine, diamond gift ideas, anniversary gift diamond jewelry, diamond prices, diamond rush, diamond mining, investing in diamonds, investing in diamond jewelery, investing in diamond jewelry,

DIAMONDS ARE A GIRLS BEST FRIEND

INTRODUCTION TO DIAMONDS

The "Big Hole" Kimberley is probably the most famous Diamond mine on the planet. The Kimberley "Big Hole" is so aptly named because it is the largest man made hole in the "hole" wide  world. Anglo American now owns 85% of De Beers DTC who owned the Kimberley Diamond Mine amongst so many other Diamond mines in South Africa and dominated the Diamond business globally until their monopoly officially ended in 2001. De Beers DTC had been buying up all global production of rough uncut diamonds in order to influence Diamond prices. 

Huge multi carat rough uncut diamonds in various colours and crystal types.

However, numerous lawsuits were filed in the Law Courts of America, alleging that De Beers willfully and unlawfully bought-up Diamond stockpiles and monopolized the world's  Diamond supplies, conspired to  raise, control and fix Diamond prices, and misrepresented the Diamond trade with false and misleading advertising.  Diamond prices today are still based on the four C's, viz: Carat, Clarity, Colour and Cut but prices are also heavily influenced by gemologist certification. There are several gemological societies / associations in the world, each having their own standards often incompatible with one another. Among them are EGI (European Gemological Laboratory International), GIA (Gemological Institute of America), IGI (International Gemological Institute), AIG (American International Gemologists), AIGS (Asian Institute of Geological Science), AGS (American Gem Society), GII (Gemological Istuitute of India) to mention but a few.

But to come back to the mine, the size of the Kimberley hole cannot be imagined, it has to be seen to believe how big it really is. Underground mining ceased in 2005 after a 134 years of constant mining. The visible  blue/green water inside the big hole is highly toxic and corrosive and several people who committed suicide by jumping into the acidic water were later found  totally unrecognisable since the acidic water consumed their skin especially their features.

Buildings on the periphery dwarfed by the size of the big hole Kimberley.

Diamonds are in abundance but with modern day mining methods, it only seems financially viable to mine them  if a yield 21 carats of diamonds  per 100 000 tons of rock crushed and sorted can be made. This process calls for huge earth moving machinery and manpower which comes  at a huge expense. Each diamond unearthed was pushed up through the  earths crust  from at least a 150kms,  to end up in blue rock kimberlite pipes and is more than a billion years old. Diamonds are also the hardest known gem and  measure 10 on the Mohs scale. Gem quality polished Diamonds also have the most amazing luster and brilliance. It is these unique properties of Diamonds that makes them special, sought after and very, very expensive. For example a 54 facet 10 carat solatair round brilliant cut (RBC) diamond colour D, with VSS clarity can fetch a price of up to and even exceeding  $450 000 US subject to other factors. Hence most wedding / engagement rings normally come in the .05 caret - 1.0 caret range or perhaps a bit more.  A 2.0 ct solitaire  diamond ring would cost way more than the average person would be willing to spend unless it is bought as an investment.

The Kimberley Big Hole - The largest man-made hole in the whole wide world.

Three other open mines in Kimberley are still in production and the tailings of the big hole mine is still being reprocessed to this very day collectively producing some 1.8 million carats at its peak.

Diamond ring, Diamond rings, diamond earring, diamond earrings, diamond brooch, diamond broaches, diamond pendant, diamond pendants, diamond studded watch, diamond studded watches, engagement ring, engagement rings, engagement earring, engagement earrings, diamond necklace, diamond necklaces, diamond tennis bracelet, diamond tennis bracelets, diamond bracelet, diamond bracelets, diamond jewelry, diamond jewelery, diamond jewels, what every women needs to know about diamonds, diamond grades, diamond colour, diamond clarity, diamond carat, GIA diamond grading certificates, GIA graded diamonds, EGL graded diamonds, EGL diamond grading certificates, AGS diamond grading certificates, AGS graded diamonds, what every woman should know about diamonds, what you should know about buying diamonds, diamonds are forever, diamonds are a girl's best friend, the diamond gallery, the diamond mine, diamond gift ideas, anniversary gift diamond jewelry, diamond prices, diamond rush, diamond mining, investing in diamonds, investing in diamond jewelery, investing in diamond jewelry,