Behind the scenes
Diamonds form under the earth in the molten area. It takes more than a billion years before a diamond can travel up to the earth's surface through volcanic activity and man is able to locate it. There are two types of soil where diamonds are usually found: kimberlite and lamproite. It often takes more than 500 tons of these soils to find 1cts fine quality cut diamond (or around 2cts in rough form).

A cut diamond's weight loss is around 50-70% of its original weight when found in the ground. The major sources for fine quality are in Boswanna, Russia, Namibia, and South Africa. Australia is also a big player in industrial quality diamond. Since it is difficult and expensive to mine diamonds and demand is high, diamond prices usually rise every year. This is a major reason why diamond lovers search so hard and treasure their own collections.

		Big Hole		Kimberlite		Premier Mine