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Mining Diamonds
When contemplating the beautiful diamonds in diamond engagement rings, you may not be aware of the origins of this stone. It is found at depths of up to 190 kilometres and can be as old as three billion years.
Mining for diamonds is big business and has produced some big mines; but it is not a simple process. Diamonds are formed from carbon, deep down in the earth, which has been subjected to high temperatures and high pressure over a long time. They are found in three types of rock, kimberlite, eclogite and lamproite, but the main one is kimberlite.
Primary deposits of diamonds are formed during eruptions of magma pushing up the kimberlite through the surface of the earth. The diamond bearing material is scattered around the site and is filtered back into the earth over millennia. Secondary deposits of diamonds are formed by kimberlite weathering over the years and being washed down river beds over a wide distribution.
South Africa’s famous Kimberley mining region is named from this rock and the diamonds are extracted by open-cast mining and also by underground mining. As more diamonds are extracted, mines get deeper and require more specialised machinery to extract them. Diamond mining occurs mainly in America, Africa, Australia and Russia.
The ethical controversies associated with diamond mining have been regulated by certification in the Kimberley Process to reassure customers that their beautiful diamonds have not been produced out of conflict. Here at Marlows we only use these certified diamonds in our diamond engagement rings and jewellery.
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