Facts About Rough Diamonds

Rough diamonds are still in their natural form and have not been cut or polished.  Natural diamonds are found in Octhahedra, Cubic, Macle, and Dodecahedron crystal shapes.  Unless you have done some research into what rough diamonds look like it unlikely you would be able to spot a diamond in its natural setting. 

Before the late 1800s diamonds were found in riverbeds and traded to noblemen who recognize the value of this hard crystal and utilized the diamonds for armor studding in their breast plates.  Later on kings and queens used the rough diamonds to adorn their crowns, tiaras and other jewelry.  They were not as beautiful as polish stones however, they were still prized for their beauty and uniqueness.

Diamonds was a major trade item in India during the early 1500’s.  Brazil then became the next country to develop a diamond trade industry.  In the late 1800’s Africa became the most prolific diamond producing country in the world after it was discovered that diamonds are found in volcanic pipes.  Only about 30 of the worlds 6,000 volcanic pipes have become major diamond mines.

In the early 1990’s Canada’s Northwest Territories has become the latest entry into the great diamond rush.  About 200 miles northeast of Yellowknife is the Ekati mine which produces about $600 million worth of diamonds yearly.  Some expert believe that Canada will become the world’s top diamond producing area within the next 20 years.

In 1982 diamonds were found in central Alaska in the Crooked Creek.  The rocks underlying central Alaska are much younger than the rocks found below the diamond mining areas of the Northwest Territories of Canada so geologists do not think Alaska will ever become a major player in the diamond market.

The largest of all rough diamonds ever found was the the famous Cullinan Diamond.  It Weighed 3,106.75 carats before it was cut into multiple parts.  The second largest was the Excelsior diamond which weighed 995.20 carats.  Both diamonds were found in South Africa and are approximately 1 to 3 billion years old.

Octhahedra

An Octahedra is a polyhedron with eight faces.  If you take two pyramids and join them together at their base you will have created an Octahedra.  This is the most common form of a rough diamond.

CubicA cube is a three dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces.  A simple box shape is in the form of a cube shape.

Macle

A Macle is one half of the Octhahedra or pyramid shaped that has been distorted.  Sometimes the diamond crystal will be forming in a Octhahedra shape and the diamond will come into contact with something that breaks the Octhahedra in half and it may even rejoin together into some odd shape and will be called a Twin Macle.

Dodecahedron

A Dodecahedron is has a rounded shape with many different types of flat faces on it.  A perfect one will have 20 triangular faces, 30 square faces, and 12 pentagonal faces.  Nature will rarely produce something perfect in shape so a diamond will usually be a misshaped round ball with many flat faces on it.