For Tom Moses, it was a peak second in his profession.
“Consider one thing that’s as huge as your closed fist — and it’s a diamond that weighs barely multiple pound. There’s a way of overwhelming disbelief and pleasure that comes over you,” he stated.
Moses, the chief vp and chief analysis and laboratory officer on the Gemological Institute of America (GIA), was recounting his expertise July 14 and 15 on the institute’s laboratory in Gaborone, Botswana. That’s the place he examined the world’s second-largest diamond — the two,492-carat Lucara Diamond found in August 2024 at Botswana’s Karowe Mine, which has a observe report of manufacturing uncommon and enormous, high-quality diamonds.
GIA, a nonprofit group, has a workforce of greater than 60 scientists, researchers and technical workers conducting analysis and offering stories on the properties of diamonds, coloured stones and pearls, so sellers, producers, patrons and customers know the standard of their stones. GIA developed the business requirements for grading diamonds — carat, lower, readability and shade — generally known as the 4 Cs, and can even decide if a diamond is pure or man-made. GIA has 11 laboratories world wide.
The historic Lucara diamond discovery electrified the gem business. The diamond has been named “Motswedi,” which in Setswana, the nationwide language of Botswana, means “water spring.” In keeping with GIA, the diamond weighed 2,488.32 carats (about 1.1 kilos) upon its examination, attributable to some fragmentation subsequent to the invention.
The biggest diamond ever found is the three,106-carat Cullinan Diamond present in 1905. It was lower into 105 stones, together with 9 very main ones totaling greater than 1,000 carats. Some are within the British Crown Jewels.
Tom Moses examines the Lucara Diamond, renamed the Motswedi Diamond, in its tough, uncut state.
Photograph: Wuyi Wang/GIA
Other than its extraordinary measurement, Moses marvels on the primeval nature of the Lucara diamond. “The earth is about four-and-a-half billion years previous, and we’re holding one thing that’s nearly half as previous because the planet. Consider the size of time this diamond needed to develop. It was seemingly 1000’s of years,” he stated.
He’s cognizant of how the diamond has introduced a way of nationwide pleasure to Botswana, spotlighting its significance as a mining nation and including worth to the economic system. Botswana was as soon as among the many poorest nations on the earth, however with the expansion of its diamond business for the reason that mid ’60s, its way of life has turn out to be among the many highest in Africa. “It’s been an incredible transformation,” stated Moses.
The Lucara Diamond discovery has additionally put a brighter gentle on pure diamonds, a sector that has been shedding some floor to the proliferation of synthetic diamonds. “The great thing about it means one thing to Botswana and its folks. It’s created plenty of curiosity in your entire nation, and it’s simply thrilling to be watch that and be a part of that,” Moses stated.
The diamond is collectively owned by the Lucara Diamond mining company and Botswana, and may very well be bought in its entirety or extra seemingly in items, probably to an public sale home, a jewellery model, to the diamond market in Antwerp, Belgium, or to a museum for show. “Nobody who resides as we speak has seen a diamond this huge,” Moses famous, implying crowds would line as much as see it.
After holding the diamond, and experiencing an outpouring of sensations, Moses received all the way down to engaged on the stone, alongside GIA’s vp of analysis and growth Dr. Wuyi Wang. They spent hours analyzing the immense diamond, together with the small fragments that broke off throughout cleansing and examination by the mining firm.
“We discovered it to be a really pure diamond, nearly 99.9 % carbon, with one thing lower than 5 components per million of nitrogen,” Moses stated. “It’s a sort IIA diamond, the purest of all diamonds. Kind I has nitrogen. Kind II has nearly no detectable nitrogen, one thing lower than most likely 5 components per million. Typically it would even be as pure as a couple of components per billion. Many of the giant, essential diamonds of the world are sort II, of the perfect gem high quality — completely colorless and flawless.”
They’re fashioned 500 to 600 kilometers beneath the Earth’s floor, deep in its mantle, whereas extra typical diamonds are fashioned between 100 and 240 kilometers beneath the floor, Moses defined. “In case you had two diamonds, let’s say the identical measurement, with the perfect shade and the perfect readability, the sort IIA is usually price extra and is extra fascinating,” Moses stated.
“I believe what’s going to occur is it will likely be separated into pretty giant items that weigh within the a whole bunch of carats every.”
The extent of the chopping is guided by the crystal itself, and its few “feathers” or fissures throughout its size. “When you get into these extra manageable items, then the planners and the skilled diamond producers and polishers will make their dedication about how you can unlock the fantastic thing about this piece. It would seemingly produce excessive readability diamonds, (which means) diamonds with out inclusions.”
There’s some uncertainty relating to the colours. Because the diamond will get lower into smaller items, Moses expects there will likely be a spread of colours emitted from the diamond, from pale brownish, to very clear, nearly colorless stones. The uncut Motswedi diamond is clear, gem-quality, and shows a light-weight brown shade, whereas the fragments are primarily colorless. The immense measurement of the diamond together with international supplies in fractures seemingly intensify its brown shade, which is mainly evenly distributed, in response to GIA.
“The truth that the diamond hasn’t already gone on a tour in its uncut state suggests to me that it most likely will get lower first,” Moses advised. “However there will likely be fashions of it made out of its authentic state so folks will be capable of perceive what it regarded like. The stone has been proven to only a few folks at this level.”
There’s lots to be discovered from the stone.
“We noticed only a few inclusions in it. I name them ‘birthmarks’ as a result of they actually inform you one thing in regards to the actual surroundings wherein the diamond fashioned. The inclusions have been entombed, encased on this diamond and preserved. So we have now a small pattern of the Earth’s deep mantle that has been preserved for a few billion years.”
He expects the GIA workforce to “very rigorously take away these inclusions, or very rigorously polish them down till we will study them with analytical gear that may inform us what the chemistry is, and that may give us an concept what that visitor mineral was. Possibly we’ll even discover a new mineral and probably unlock new details about the Earth’s deep mantle, or one thing in regards to the Earth’s formation. This work has essential which means exterior of gems and jewellery.
“Diamonds signify this emotional connection between folks,” stated Moses. “A diamond is chilly and crystalline, however if you maintain it, it turns into hotter and hotter and transmits this warmth to your physique.
“I don’t purchase diamonds for myself, however I’ve purchased diamonds for my spouse who has informed me, it by no means appears to be sufficient. She actually, actually likes diamonds. And she or he says I’ve the right job,” Moses stated. “A few of her diamonds are fairly small, some a bit bigger, however the ones that I’ve acquired over time have colours which can be extraordinarily uncommon.”
