Go back over 3 billion years to deep within the Earth’s crust. At between 150 - 200km below the surface in conditions of intense heat (up to 1300 degrees celcius) and with pressure of about 50 000 times that of our normal atmospheric pressure, carbon atoms crystallised forming diamonds.
That is all very scientific and I get cross-eyed just typing it, but let's be clear natural diamonds are an incredible occurance!
We find diamonds in Kimberlite pipes, which is molten volcanic magma that has been pushed to the surface, cooled and hardened forming a pipe to the surface. .
These kimberlite pipes are the most significant source of diamonds, yet it is estimated that only 1 in every 200 kimberlite pipes contain gem-quality diamonds and of those gem quality diamonds very few make it to the top end of diamond selection.
Interestingly for South African's, the name ‘Kimberlite’ was derived from the South African town of Kimberley where the first diamonds were found in this type of rock. Natural diamonds are in our heritage!
