Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, but diamond is metastable and converts to it at a negligible rate under those conditions. Diamond has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any natural material, properties that are used in major industrial applications such as cutting and polishing tools. They are also the reason that diamond anvil cells can subject materials to pressures found deep in the Earth.
Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide (α-Al2O3) with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sapphirus" from the Greek "sappheiros", which referred to lapis lazuli. It is typically blue, but natural "fancy" sapphires also occur in yellow, purple, orange, and green colors; "parti sapphires" show two or more colors. Red corundum stones also occur, but are called rubies rather than sapphires. Pink-colored corundum may be classified either as ruby or sapphire depending on locale. Commonly, natural sapphires are cut and polished into gemstones and worn in jewelry. They also may be created synthetically in laboratories for industrial or decorative purposes in large crystal boules. Because of the remarkable hardness of sapphires – 9 on the Mohs scale (the third hardest mineral, after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5) – sapphires are also used in some non-ornamental applications, such as infrared optical components, high-durability windows, wristwatch crystals and movement bearings, and very thin electronic wafers, which are used as the insulating substrates of special-purpose solid-state electronics such as integrated circuits and GaN-based blue LEDs. Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gem of the 45th anniversary. A sapphire jubilee occurs after 65 years.
Peterstown is a town in Monroe County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 456 at the 2020 census.
Tanzanite is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite, caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of Manyara Region in Tanzania, in a very small mining area near the Mererani Hills.
The Argyle Diamond Mine was a diamond mine located in the East Kimberley region in the remote north of Western Australia. Argyle was at times the largest diamond producer in the world by volume, although the proportion of gem-quality diamonds was low. It was the only known significant source of pink and red diamonds, and additionally provided a large proportion of other naturally coloured diamonds, including champagne, cognac and rare blue diamonds.
Demantoid is the green gemstone variety of the mineral andradite, a member of the garnet group of Minerals. Andradite is a calcium- and iron-rich garnet. The chemical formula is Ca3Fe2(SiO4)3 with chromium substitution as the cause of the demantoid green color. Ferric iron is the cause of the yellow in the stone.
Diamond is one of the best-known and most sought-after gemstones. They have been used as decorative items since ancient times.
The Mining industry of Ghana accounts for 5% of the country's GDP and minerals make up 37% of total exports, of which gold contributes over 90% of the total mineral exports. Thus, the main focus of Ghana's mining and minerals development industry remains focused on gold. Ghana is Africa's largest gold producer, producing 80.5 t in 2008. Ghana is also a major producer of bauxite, manganese and diamonds. Ghana has 20 large-scale mining companies producing gold, diamonds, bauxite and manganese; over 300 registered small scale mining groups; and 90 mine support service companies.
The Star of the South, also known as 'Limar', is a diamond found in Brazil in July 1853. The diamond is cut into a cushion shape and weighs 128.48 carats (25.696 g). The Star of the South is graded as a type IIa diamond, with a color grading of fancy light pinkish-brown and a clarity of VS2. At the time when 'Majd' discovered it, the diamond weighed 254.5 carats (50.90 g). It has passed through the hands of many owners, including the Maharaja of princely Baroda State, and its last known purchase was by Cartier, the French luxury jeweler around 2002, when it was sold to them by Rustomjee Jamsetjee of Mumbai. The light reflected by the diamond is white, and the refracted light is of a rose tint. This gives the diamond its light pinkish-brown hue.
Brown diamonds are the most common color variety of natural diamonds. In most mines, brown diamonds account for 15% of production. The brown color makes them less attractive to some people as gemstones, and most are used for industrial purposes. However, improved marketing programs, especially in Australia and the United States, have resulted in brown diamonds becoming valued as gemstones and even referred to as chocolate diamonds.
Graff is a British multinational jeweller based in London. It was founded by British jeweller Laurence Graff in 1960. A vertically integrated company, Graff operations comprise the design, manufacture and retail distribution of jewellery and watches.
The Woyie River Diamond was recovered on 6 January 1945 from the Woyie River near Koidu in eastern Sierra Leone. The uncut stone weighed 770 carats (154 g), and at that time it was the largest alluvial diamond ever found, and the third largest diamond discovered in Africa, after the Cullinan Diamond and the Excelsior Diamond. The alluvial Star of Sierra Leone, discovered at the Diminco mine in Sierra Leone in 1970, is larger at 968.9 carats (193.78 g) uncut.
Mouawad is a family-owned international company of Lebanese origin that makes and sells jewelry, objects of art, and luxury watches. The firm has headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, with a Middle East headquarters at Jumeirah Lakes Towers in Dubai, as well as locations in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States. Founded in 1891 in Beirut, Lebanon by David Mouawad, the firm is now led by 4th generation co-guardians Fred Mouawad, Alain Mouawad and Pascal Mouawad.
The Princie Diamond is an approximately 34.65 carat cushion-cut fancy intense pink diamond discovered 300 years ago in the Golconda mines. Christie's say that the Princie Diamond is believed to be the fourth largest pink diamond in the world, after the Daria-i-Noor, the Noor-ol-Ain - which are both part of the Iranian Crown Jewels; both were cut, according to experts, from one single c. 242 carat pink diamond, - and the Pink Star, a diamond weighing 59.60 carats.
The Blue Moon of Josephine is a 12.03 carats (2.406 g) blue diamond, described as flawless by experts, that was discovered in South Africa in January 2014 and was sold at a Sotheby's auction in Geneva in November 2015 at a record-setting price of $48.4 million. The diamond is the largest cushion-shaped blue stone classified as "fancy vivid" ever to appear at auction.
Blue diamond is a type of diamond which exhibits all of the same inherent properties of the mineral except with the additional element of blue color in the stone. They are colored blue by trace amounts of boron that contaminate the crystalline lattice structure. Blue diamonds belong to a subcategory of diamonds called fancy color diamonds, the generic name for diamonds that exhibit intense color.
Pink diamond is a type of diamond that has pink color. The source of their pink color is greatly debated in the gemological world but it is most commonly attributed to plastic deformation that these diamonds undergo during their formation.
The Sierra Leone Diamond is a 709-carat, alluvial diamond found in 2017 by workers hired by Pastor Emmanuel Momoh in river sediment in Koidu village, Kono district, Sierra Leone. It has since been renamed The Peace Diamond.
A red diamond is a diamond which displays red colour and exhibits the same mineral properties as colourless diamonds. Red diamonds are commonly known as the most expensive and the rarest diamond colour in the world, even more so than pink or blue diamonds, as very few red diamonds have been found. Red diamonds, just like pink diamonds, are greatly debated as to the source of their colour, but the gemological community most commonly attributes both colours to gliding atoms in the diamond's structure as it undergoes enormous pressure during its formation. Red diamonds are among the 12 colours of fancy colour diamonds, and have the most expensive price per carat. They will typically run in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per carat range. Since they are the rarest colour, it is difficult to find them in large sizes, and they are mostly found in sizes less than 1 carat. Red diamonds only exist with one colour intensity, Fancy, although their clarities can range from Flawless to Included, just like white diamonds. The largest and most flawless red diamond is the 5.11 carat Fancy Red Moussaieff Red Diamond, which has internally flawless clarity.