Are Diamonds Really Rare?

By Jan Smith

When you walk into a jewelry store and see all the diamonds in the various settings that are for sale, it is difficult to realize that diamonds are really rare.

Most people don't even stop to consider how that diamond came to be sitting in that jeweler's case! There is quite a bit of work that is done before a diamond is ready to sell to the general public.

For every one million diamonds that are mined, only one will be found that is a quality one caret diamond. In order to find a two caret diamond, about five million diamonds must be mined. More than two hundred tons of ore must be mined to find one small diamond, and even then, more than 80% of the diamonds that are mined are only good for industrial use, such as diamond drill bits or nail files.

So, the next time you visit your local jewelry store, ask to see the one carat diamonds. Then you should look at this diamond with new appreciation - knowing that it truly is one in a million!

In Australia, there have been several big diamond mines opened and producing good quality stones. The majority of them though are used for industrial purposes. I have had a friend who was a security guard at one of the big mines in the Flinders ranges of Western Australia and what he was able to tell me about their screening methods was incredible.

There had been a big find at a diamond prospecting site beside the mine he was working on. The diamond had actually ended up in the slag heap because the size of the diamond was so big it slipped through their x-ray machine and ended up in the mine dump! Needless to say, the x-ray machine was re-set and all the tailings re-screened.

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