Diamond: A Journey into the Heart of an Obsession is a book full of in-depth information about the findings of a diamond, the events that follow the discovery, and a long, intensive description of how diamonds are formed and the rarity and attraction of such a gemstone. Diamonds are widely coveted and lusted for by humans for their extravagant value. Diamonds are known to create obsessions on finding them and what to do once one is found. Hart tells the story of three Brazilian miners who go through the process of discovering a diamond and then all of the events that lead to obsession.
Diamonds are substances that are formed underneath the surface of the earth. Large amounts of carbon are put under extreme amounts of pressure and from that mixture,
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Once they are made, diamonds reach the surface of earth by volcanic vents that are called Kimberlite Pipes. Kimberlite is a coarse-grained, blue-tinged, and very rare igneous rock, and it can sometimes contain diamonds. It is typically formed by rapidly rising magma that reaches the surface of earth. As said before, these pipes can contain diamonds, but not all of them have diamonds, adding to the importance and excitement of finding a pipe that does bare diamonds. When looking for these special diamond pipes, geologists look for certain minerals: garnets and chromites. Once the diamonds are found in the kimberlite, the rocks surrounding the diamonds are drilled through and broken apart so that the rough diamonds can be gathered. Rough diamonds are diamonds that are uncut and unpolished, basically a diamond in its true form. Now, drilling is not the only way to mine diamonds. Before the technologies of today, there were very simple and primitive means of obtaining the diamonds: digging in diamond-rich rivers. These means were not extremely effective and or lucrative for the diggers. When the diamond business became infamous, boom camps arose where diamonds were found in
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
A diamond ain't a thing in the world but a piece of dirt that got
Should diamonds be seen as such highly sought-after, luxury goods, and marketed and sold at such extravagant amounts? While some individuals might be of the impression that diamonds are lavishly priced, because of limited supply, it is of my opinion that a very shrewdly-created cartel disguises the very reason for these “rare” gems seemingly being worth your “pretty penny”.
Women buying diamonds for themselves, for the joy of wearing them invested in jewelry in case of emergency.
A beautiful precious diamond can last forever, but what most people do not know is that a majority of our diamonds come from Africa. The civil wars in Africa over diamonds began around 1961 and ended in 2003. Conflict diamonds were rampant and it would be difficult to say if any jewelry sold prior to 2003 was conflict free. Conflict diamonds are diamonds that have been mined and were controlled by African rebels. The rebels would use the profits from selling conflict diamonds to fund illegal activity and to purchase more weapons for their armies. While rebels had control of the diamond mines they killed approximately 4 million people and countless families were displaced.
In Zaire, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, many children wake up to go mining for diamonds instead of going to school. When we think of diamonds, we tend to think of a precious gift that is a rarity which is tended to be given in proposals or other special occasions. The truth is, diamonds are quite common in west and central Africa, but to profit more off these blood diamonds the industry markets them off to be much more rare than they actually are. Blood diamonds, why are they called blood diamonds? Possibly because they are made by the bloody hands of small children who are in physical, mental, and emotional harm from working this burdensome job every day.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
There are many different types of diamonds that vary in value. Koh-I-Noor is one of the most expensive diamonds and the Cullian is another that can be bought at the price of 400 million (3,106.75 carats) and it is one of the largest diamonds found. Diamonds represent wealth, love, and elegance, while the history behind them is brutal, awful, sickening, and bloody. Millions of diamonds came out of areas that have been mining for 50-60 years. The slaves that participate in the mining process are poor; some slaves get paid a share of what they did, others work simply for food, and some work under false hopes of one day catching the big one. They were known as the “Casino economy” because sometimes they found diamonds and other times they went home empty handed (Africa’s Diamond Trade). Blood diamond slavery didn’t get the world’s attention until the late 1990’s in Sierra Leone (Diamond facts.org). Blood diamonds originated in Sierra Leone, Angola, Democra...
It is said that “everything that shines isn't gold.” A difficult situation can result a vast illusion that is not what one thought it would be, which leads to disappointment and despair. Just like Guy De Maupassant stories, “The Necklace” and “The Jewel.” In the first story, the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel’s need for materialistic fulfillment causes her hard labor which ends her natural beauty. In the second story, the husband Monsieur Latin ends up living a dreadful life due to the passing of his wife and her admiration for jewels. “The Necklace” and “The Jewel” both share many similarities such as the unconditional love each husband haves toward their wife, the necessity each wife haves towards materialistic greed, the beautiful allurement
Santarossa, B. (2004, January 13). Diamonds: Adding lustre to the Canadian economy. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2004008-eng.htm
I first encountered a lovely crystal by the name of Amethyst about 4 years ago. A friend gave it to me and told me that it would help me in this period of my life. I did not really know how or why a pretty little “rock” would help me out but, I took it with gratitude and kept it in my pocket. Sometime had passed and then I came across another gemstone. When a second stone came into my life it gave me a sense to actually look it up and find out what these stones meant and why they started to pop up into my life. During this journey, I found out that gemstones and crystals have many ancient and contemporary uses. They have much history and many legends attached to them. There are also many theories of how gemstones and crystals work, hundreds of practical applications and many lists of their healing and spiritual properties.
A Diamond is one of the two natural minerals that are produced from carbon. The other mineral is Graphite. Even though both of these minerals are produced from the same element ,carbon, they have totally different characteristics. One of the most obvious difference is that Diamond is hard and Graphite is soft. The Diamond is considered to be the most hardest substance found in nature. It scores a perfect ten in hardness. Because of its hardness a tiny Diamond is used as a cutting and drilling tool in industry. Even the Greeks called the Diamond “adamas” which means unconquerable. Diamonds also conducts heat better than any other mineral .
Afro-American women are doubly discriminated from their own community male as well as the white male and white women. They are considered to be the least living being in the world and the basic rights are regretted for them. Due to their marginalized nature, they are treated as slaves and labourers with low wages. They are not even allowed to merge with the white women society in US even though dwelling in the same land. Black women suffer a lot in the hands of both the men community and there is no one to uplift their hands.
The value of diamonds lies on their physical properties that make them suitable for many applications. Natural diamonds are only of high value if they are scarce in nature. Realizing this, De Beers Consolidated Mines was formed to control the supply of diamonds from mines across the world. The diamond market is influenced by mine production, rough diamond distribution, preparation/cutting, and retail markets. The project will be concentrating on the retail markets for diamonds and other high end jewelry.
Mining is the process or industry of obtaining minerals from the earth. Topics in this paper I’ll be specifically discussing are pros and cons of mining, structures of a mine, mining in general, California gold rush, diamonds in Africa, and comparison of diamond and gold mines.