What Makes A Diamond So Special?

Diamond. The single word inspires thoughts of beauty

, rarity and enduring love. Our fascination with diamonds is not a modern phenomenon. Ancient Greeks regarded the rare crystals as tears from the Gods and Romans thought the beautiful stones were splinters from falling stars. Pliny, the Roman naturalist from the first century AD described the stones as "...the most valuable, not only of precious stones, but of all the things in this world." The word diamond is derived from the Greek "adamas" meaning unconquerable, a very fitting name for the hardest substance on Earth.

What makes a diamond so special really depends on a number of factors. A geologist may say they are special due to the intense conditions under which they were formed in the Earth over hundreds of millions of years. An economist may find a diamond special because of the extreme amount of time and money put towards finding and mining diamonds. Both of these reasons as well as the publics association of love and beauty all contribute to the allure of the diamonds.

A diamonds unique chemical composition and crystal structure make is a very unique member of the mineral kingdom. Diamond, is the only gem know to man made of a single element: carbon. Diamonds are 99.95% carbon with the remaining 0.05% being comprised of other "trace elements" which can contribute to a diamonds unique color or shape. The conditions under which a diamond was formed also contribute to the stones unique identity. Diamonds form over hundreds of millions of years under extremely high pressure and temperatures deep under the Earth's surface. Graphite, like diamond, is also comprised solely of carbon, but is formed under very different conditions making it soft enough to write with while diamonds are so hard it can only be scratched with another diamond. Without any one of these factors a diamond could be just another mineral, but due to the magic combination of composition, structure and formation, diamonds are an extraordinary example of a beautiful natural miracle.

From the permafrost of Canada and Siberia to the arid deserts of South Africa diamonds are mined in some of the most inhospitable locations on Earth. Mining companies spend a lot of money and labor to locate and mine these precious stones. It costs millions of dollars to identify a potential diamond deposit and even more to build and operate a processing plant in the remote locations where diamonds are found. Most mining companies build the equivalent of a small city to house, feed, and entertain the hundreds of workers that will operate a single mine. Not only do mining companies need to take the cost of building a mining facility into consideration when planning a new diamond mine, but they also need to consider the ratio of ore to mineral mined. Usually mines only recover 0.30 carats of diamond rough for every metric ton of ore mined, and not all of the recovered diamond rough is gem quality. An extreme example of this would be the Argyle mine in Australia. While the mine processes approximately 3.0 carats of diamond per metric ton of ore, only 5% of the diamond rough is gem quality. This means that only 5% of the diamonds mined have the potential to be cut into stones suitable for jewelry. The remaining rough is used for industrial purposes such as electronics, drill bits and saws.

Like many precious products diamond prices fluctuate, but because of their beauty, durability, rarity and enduring value gemstones are held dear by many consumers and retain their value after many yeas of being worn and enjoyed.

by: Sarah Harris

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