New Yorker article about the Sewelo diamond and Lucara mine

[foxinsox]

The Woman Shaking Up the Diamond Industry

Eira Thomas’s company has used radical new methods to find some of the biggest uncut gems in history.

www.newyorker.com

Really interesting article about the woman running the mine and their different practices

 

[OoohShiny]

The Woman Shaking Up the Diamond Industry

Eira Thomas’s company has used radical new methods to find some of the biggest uncut gems in history.

www.newyorker.com

Really interesting article about the woman running the mine and their different practices

Great article, thanks for posting!

A nice bit of history there, and a view into the world of diamond trading

It's interesting that they are seeking to break out from the usual process of finding/brokering/cutting/selling, to move towards finding a customer for the rough and then cutting what the customer wants - that would seem to echo the work that @Serg has been doing!

Recently, Thomas launched a digital sales platform, called Clara, which allows rough diamonds to be sold individually to retailers. (To insure that financial transactions are secure, the platform uses blockchain technology.) The platform works on the basis that every diamond has a unique shape and color, which means that it is possible to create a digital signature for each stone, and to detail its provenance. If successful, Clara will pose a threat to the old diamond world, because suppliers can reach buyers without an intermediary. The platform is growing fast, although there are no signs yet that it will supplant the traditional tendering process.

Whatever is within the stone, Lucara and HB believe that they have reëngineered the market, at least for big diamonds. In the past, manufacturers have analyzed rough diamonds, created the best possible polished gems from them, and then attempted to find customers for those jewels. With this new arrangement, that equation was reversed. Wealthy customers will now be able to commission Louis Vuitton to carve a diamond, perhaps of their own design, from the Sewelô. Mansori’s mind raced with possibilities. Maybe they would make three identical jewels for a billionaire’s triplet daughters? Or, perhaps, a horse’s-head diamond for the billionaire owner of a racing stable? Then again, if the client did not demand perfect color and clarity, HB could fashion the world’s largest polished diamond out of the Sewelô—a jewel of a thousand carats.

 

[Tekate]

Thank you.. very interesting article..

 

[foxinsox]

They found another big diamond https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...amond-industry-finds-yet-another-huge-gem/amp

 

[Tekate]

Great article, thanks. looking forward to seeing a picture when they release one.. Must be gorgeous.

 

[Karl_K]

Now for the rest of th story, it has been known for decades that if you put xray machines before the crushers you can retrieve many large diamonds that were before crushed in the crusher.
They used to cost 100s of millions of dollars and take a really huge amount of power.
Since 9/11 the US has invested millions if not billions in lower cost and lower energy huge xray machines.
That bought the cost down to a few million and the energy use down a manageable level.
Buy some put them in your process line at your diamond mine and bingo more large diamonds.

 

[foxinsox]

Now for the rest of th story, it has been known for decades that if you put xray machines before the crushers you can retrieve many large diamonds that were before crushed in the crusher.
They used to cost 100s of millions of dollars and take a really huge amount of power.
Since 9/11 the US has invested millions if not billions in lower cost and lower energy huge xray machines.
That bought the cost down to a few million and the energy use down a manageable level.
Buy some put them in your process line at your diamond mine and bingo more large diamonds.

If this has been known for so long, why does the reporting make it seem like Lucara are doing something new?

 

[Karl_K]

If this has been known for so long, why does the reporting make it seem like Lucara are doing something new?

actually doing it is fairly new and many mines dont.
The affordable tech is fairly new.
Its a way to keep mines that are well past their peak producing capability viable.
As the mine goes deeper the ct per ton goes down but there are often more large diamonds making it viable to install the scanners and take the time to hunt for them.

Mines work like this: at the top the ct per ton is fairly low as you move down the pipe it increases until it hits peak then it goes down again.
The pipe is shaped like a funnel with the peak producing zone somewhere in the center area.

 

[Karl_K]

Pit mine is Russia that was closed when it was decided not to go underground to chase the smaller end of the pipe .

 

[foxinsox]

That is super interesting, thanks @Karl_K!