World's Biggest Diamond Discovery

Author:

Kesha Flming

It weighed 3,106.75 carats uncut. It was cut into the Great Star of Africa, weighing 530.2 carats, the Lesser Star of Africa, which weighs 317.40 carats, and 104 other diamonds of nearly flawless colour and clarity.

They now form part of the British crown jewels.


The Cullinan was three times the size of the next largest diamond, the Excelsior, which was also found in South Africa. The world\'s largest documented polished diamond - unearthed in 1986, also in South Africa - is called Unnamed Brown. It weighs 545 carats and was cut down from a 700 carat rough diamond. It took an international team of expert cutters 3 years to complete the masterpiece. Another impressive diamond that also took 3 years to cut, and also is part of the British crown jewels, is the Centenary Diamond. It weighs 273.85 carats and is the world\'s largest flawless diamond.


Diamonds are brought to the earth\'s surface by volcanic eruptions. They are transported by magma that originated at great depths of 90 to 120 miles and deeper. This is more extreme that any kind of volcanic explosions than we have ever seen on our planet.


There are two types of diamond deposits. They are Primary and Secondary. Primary deposits are areas were diamonds are first brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions. They are known as pipes and the findings are relatively large. Most of the mining is focused through this type of deposits. Secondary deposits are places were the diamonds were carried to the surface by erosion. These findings are mostly small in size and are not worth large exploration.


From the beginning of exploration to the start up, the entire process can take more than a decade. The investment can reach well over a half of billion dollars. The Ekati Mine in Canada's North West Territories is a great example of this. The location was first found in 1981 and it took 10 years of research until the first pipe was located in 1991. Shortly after this, another 120 pipes were locate and only five pipes were selected for development that began in 1997.


Diamonds are mined in the most inhospitable areas of the Earth. They are located in the out back of Australia, the deserts of Africa, and the tundra of Russia and Canada. One of the reasons diamonds cost so much is the huge amount of labor required to mine a small amount of product. For one point of diamond weight there is over 1000 pounds of ore and rock processed.

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