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October 29th, 2008 From admin
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New technology tries to pin down history of Koh-i-Noor diamond
The Koh-i-Noor is one of the world’s great and probably most famous ‘unknown’ diamond. For over a 150 years, the diamond has been cast into the British crown jewels. Measuring an awe inspiring 191-carats, the diamond has a long and mostly unknown past to many. Recent research has revealed some interesting origins of the little known uge gem. The research was reported during the August 2008 issue of Gems & Gemology. Fundamentally the article caused ripples since it aimed to disprove one of its generally accepted origins.
The original gem may have been found over 5,000 years ago, however the first mention in any verifiable document did not appear until 1304. The rock was bougth and sold, given as a gift and exchanged repeatedly though during many times it was through violence, war and conquest, eventually arriving on British soil in 1849.
The Ko-i-Noor diamond was shown at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 where it received little praise since it had a disappointing lopsided cut and sheer lack of brilliance.
In 1852 Queen Victoria then ordererd it to be re-cut and shaped into its present dimensions. That re-cutting, while producing a more appealing shape and “fire,” reduced the stone to 105 carats, almost half its previous weight. Before the cutting, a mold had been made and at least two plaster replicas cast.
One of the theories for the origin of the Koh-i-Noor is that it was cut from a diamond called the Great Mogul, a 287-carat stone shaped like half an egg. That stone disappears from the historic record about the time the Koh-i-Noor appears. The recent research showed that the original Koh-i-Noor was too large in one dimension to have come from that stone.
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October 24th, 2008 From admin
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An amazing story came to light last week about desire, passion, romance and unity. Generally people see diamonds in a focused light, they’re can be cold and hard, but precious and valuable. The story begins with 13 women of Jewelia who each were unable to afford a 15-carat diamond necklace on their own so they each contributed $1,200 into the kitty and bought it together just like a time-share.
The agreement is that for the investment, each woman has the necklace for 28 days a year, crazy ? maybe…
They named the necklace “Jewelia” in honor of Julia Child, the famous TV chef, who lived in a retirement home not far from the women’s hometown of Ventura, Calif. crazy, yes i think so, but then at least for 28 days in the year each women gets to feel like a celebrity!
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October 23rd, 2008 From John
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I never thought I would, but I am finally getting married. Not because I couldn’t find someone, I just needed to find someone who shared my World of Warcraft habit. Anyway, I didn’t realize that finding a diamond engagement ring would be such a big deal. Pardon me, but I find the idea of choosing a piece of female jewelry the most boring thing this side of a medically induced coma.
I mean c’mon, what’s a diamond anyway? It’s just a piece of carbon, compressed deep inside the core of the Earth and the hardest thing known to man. But when I say it like that it sounds kinda cool. |
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| My previous knowledge of diamonds before this research is the James Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever. I think there was also a Bond villain whose face was embedded with diamonds? Lets not forget the Pink Panther movies, and of course, the last Danny Ocean movie was all based around a diamond heist.
But listen, it’s not just movies that make diamonds interesting, the way they get diamonds out of the ground is also really cool.
Huge volcanic action pushes the precious stones up to the surface of the Earth in what are called Kmberlite pipes. All you have to do then is rip up the ground and dig them out. This means huge open cast mining techniques are used leaving massive, open wounds. As if the Planet developed a huge zit burst by mining and left as an everlasting scar. |
Ekati diamond mine is one of the biggest in Canada. It is the most recent diamond mine on the Planet. It is both a surface and an underground min.
Its location is in the Arctic Circle and has to be supplied by frozen road in the winter, although it does have a runway big enough to take large jets.
World Diamond Production for 2006
| South Africa |
67,000K cts |
| Russia |
23,400K cts |
| Botswana |
24,000K cts |
| Canada |
12,350K cts |
| Australia |
7,305K cts |
| Angola |
7,000K cts |
| Congo |
5,600K cts |
| Namibia |
2,200K cts |
| Ghana |
780,000 cts |
| Sierra Leone |
360K cts |
| Guinea |
355K cts |
| Central African Rep. |
315K cts |
| Brazil |
300K cts |
| Ivory Coast |
200K cts |
| Tanzania |
195,000 cts |
| China |
100K cts |
| Venezuela |
45K cts |
| Liberia |
7K cts |
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Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada
Coordinates: 64°42′49″N 110°37′10″W
Google Map of Ekati diamond mine:
Googlemaps
Official Ekati Diamond Mine Site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekati_Diamond_Mine |
This huge hole in the ground is so big helicopters have been banned from flying over it because of the down draft sucking down aircraft.
The hole is 1,200 meters across and over 500 meters deep. It is in Siberia and is absolutely huge, notice the contrast of the buildings to the hole.
It takes the massive trucks hours to reach the top on the hole, hauling 200 tonnes at a time. |
Mirny Diamond Mine, Siberia
BBC Postcards from Russia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Mine |
Kimberley Big Hole Diamond Mine, South Africa
Google Map of Kimberly diamond mine:
Googlemaps
Kimberly mine is where Cecil Rhodes, the man after which Rhodesia was named (later to become Zimbabwe) made his fortune. It is the biggest hand dug hole in the world, it’s depth being over 1,000 metres.
The mine has given up over 3 tonnes of diamonds and finally closed in 1914.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley,_Northern_Cape
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Diavik mine, Canada
Googlemaps
The Diavik diamond mine has produced 8 million carats or about 1,600kg (3,500 lb) since production commenced in January 2003
Coordinates: 64°29′46″N 110°16′24″W
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diavik_Diamond_MineOffical site of the Diavik Diamond Mine
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| Argyle Diamond mine, Australia
Google Map of Argyle diamond mine:
Googlemaps
The Argyle mine is one of the biggest in the world, claiming to produce a quarter of the world’s natural diamonds.
Since the mine opened, over 700 million carats of diamonds have been recovered
http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/argyle/
Image source
Infomine Argyle mine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyle_diamond_mine
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October 21st, 2008 From admin
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Yes, you read it right, scientists believe the precious gems can help cure cancer!. A new drug in the form of a patch is studded with many tiny specks of diamonds which act as a targeted receiver for radiation therapies. The doctors hope this may eventually allow cancer patients to receive chemotherapy treatments exactly where its needed.
The flexible microfilm, which looks like plastic wrap, is embedded with tiny pieces of diamond that release a common chemotherapy drug slowly over a pre prescribed time thereby limiting patient exposure to the drug’s toxic side effects.
“The thin device – a sort of blanket or patch – could be used to treat a localized region where residual cancer cells might remain after a tumour is removed,” Dean Ho of Northwestern University, whose research appears in the journal ACS Nano, said in a statement.
The material is made of nanodiamonds, fragments of diamond dust comprised of only a few clusters of carbon atoms. Clusters of nanodiamonds have a high surface area that makes them ideal for carrying drugs. Then they tested it to see how well it released drugs over time. They found the drug released slowly and evenly for a month, with doxorubicin to spare.
The team hopes this diamond-studded technology can be used to complement injected chemotherapy to reduce dosages and decrease its side effects.
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October 19th, 2008 From admin
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Kelly Osbourne, famous daughter of the more famous British born rocker Ozzy Osbourne has sparked rumors that she’s gotton engaged. The 23-year-old star – who rose to fame on the MTV show The Osbournes was seen and photographed wearing an diamond ring on her engagement finger on Tuesday two weeks ago.
Kelly and 18-year-old model Luke Worrall, who have only been dating for four months, were out enjoying a romantic evening in London when she began waving the impressive band around to a crowd of photographers.
The loved-up couple couldn’t keep their hands off each other as they dined at Japanese restaurant Nobu in London’s exclusive Mayfair district. Kelly, who was first seen wearing the diamond band in July, has dismissed claims she is planning to tie the knot. “No, she’s not engaged. The ring was actually a present from her dad Ozzy.” – Bang Showbiz.com
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October 16th, 2008 From admin
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Pop diva Beyonce has gone all wedding bling bling, her diamond engagement ring is an estimited 18-carat diamond which comes complete with a £2.5m price tag
in the field of diamond jewellery, pop and rap stars simply dont do ‘understated’. When fiance Jay-Z decided on a wedding ring for his love Beyonce Knowles, it came as absolutely no surprise that he ignored the more traditional gold band and instead chose a stunning £2.5m diamond.
But the seven-figure price tag will barely dent the bank balance of the 38-year-old musician, who last year earned an estimated £41million. The celebrity couple had a secret wedding April this year.
Mohammed Cimark, who runs Precious Gems and Jewels, said: ‘If it is 18 carats then it’s a lovely size, an exceptional diamond. It’s clearly a premium stone. ‘You can’t recognise the colour from the photo and the clarity is hard to see, but the best clarity is internally flawless. ‘I would need to look at this through the magnifying glass to know if it was flawless – but it would be quite rare, especially with a diamond this size.’
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October 12th, 2008 From admin
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Diamond Mining company; Metalex Ventures and its partners Dianor Resources and Wemindji Exploration have recently announced they discovered and recovered a set of rare purple diamonds in the James Bay region of Quebec.
The companies stated that 649 diamonds had been recovered, including nine rare purple stones. The rock samples from which the stones were extracted are estimated to be 2.7 billion years old.
The announcement stated: “Natural fancy colored diamonds are very rare and expensive. Purple is one of the rarest and most desirable colors. This finding makes the Quebec discovery both unique and among the oldest diamond-bearing occurrence in the world.”
The Canadian Mining Journal noted that the largest diamond was measured 335 X 379 X 225 microns.
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October 6th, 2008 From admin
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In Hong Kong this week, a fancy yellow diamond pendant with a 102.56 carat fancy vivid yellow diamond at its center is expected to sell at auction for between HK$58 million and HK$74 million at a Sotheby’s. Sotheby’s Hong Kong center hold regular auctions of fine jewelry and art at Hong Kong’s Convention and Exhibition Center, this latest auction will take place on Tuesday.
Not for the first time has a diamond in Hong Kong with a weight exceeding 100 carats been offered for sale at auction. Just earlier this year in May, a diamond with a weight of 101.27 carat reached a price at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong of over HK$46m. That particular diamond was believed to be the largest to ever have been sold in Asia.
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October 2nd, 2008 From admin
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The fears over a global recession have caused ripples in consumer confidence accross asia. Confidence is particularly affected in Hong Kong in light of the global economic crisis. Much of Hong Kong’s trade is import / export with the USA and Europe, centers of burgeoning recession.
Many local businesses have already reported falling sales, mainly amongst those that sell luxury items, are becoming increasingly aware of belt-tightening and sluggish demand.
The diamond industry in Hong Kong has historically been strong with many wealthy residents and visitors taking advantage of tax breaks and discounts. The fear of recession is causing demand to fall.
