Gemstones, Rocks, & Crystals Appreciation Thread

[wjfox]

One of the world's largest diamonds has been unearthed in Botswana

Updated 17th June 2021

One of the world's largest diamonds has been unearthed in Botswana, the country's government has announced.

The 1,098-carat stone, believed to be the third largest "gem-quality" diamond ever found, was presented to President Mokgweetsi Masisi on Wednesday.

The discovery was made earlier this month at the Jwaneng mine, around 75 miles from the country's capital, Gaborone. The mine is operated by Debswana, a diamond company jointly owned by Botswana's government and the De Beers Group, according to its official website.

An official government Twitter account wrote that "proceeds from the diamond will be used to advance national development in the country."

"Debswana should use this latest discovery as an inflection point, for the mine to use its technology to realize more of these large discoveries," it added.

https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/b ... index.html

[Yuli Ban]

Uranium Crystals May Lead to Safer Nuclear Fuels

Mention the word “crystals” and few people think of nuclear fuel.

Unless you are Eric Burgett.

The Idaho State University professor is on a quest to create pure, single crystals of uranium and uranium oxide so researchers at Idaho National Laboratory and elsewhere can better understand the material and design higher performance fuels to power nuclear reactors.

Burgett and his team of graduate students have successfully manufactured cerium oxide crystals as a practice run (cerium can be a nonradioactive surrogate for uranium or plutonium). The team produced its first uranium oxide crystal in June at ISU’s Research in Science and Engineering (RISE) facility in Pocatello.

“A single crystal allows researchers to test and study a material in its simplest form,” said Burgett, who also is a Center for Advanced Energy Studies affiliate.

Burgett first became interested in crystals and their potential to advance nuclear energy research as a doctoral student at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

A university team recently created uranium crystals that could help INL researchers design higher performance nuclear fuels. Credit: INL

[wjfox]

South Africa gems that sparked rush are quartz not diamonds

13 hours ago

The South African government says that stones found in a village last month are not diamonds but quartz.

A cattle herder first uncovered the stones in KwaZulu-Natal province. It prompted thousands to rush to KwaHlathi village, more than 300km (186 miles) south-east of Johannesburg.

But after conducting tests, officials have said the stones are quartz crystals, which are far less valuable.

After feldspar, quartz is the most abundant mineral in the Earth's crust.

"The tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds," a local government statement reportedly said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-57548406

[wjfox]

[funkervogt]

What do you think the future holds for lab synthesis of gemstones, rocks and crystals? They're already able to do it for diamonds, and also amethyst.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst# ... c_amethyst

Won't the precious stone and mineral industry get rocked (pun intended) if technology could produce unlimited amounts of their product, at low, stable prices?

[wjfox]

This Huge Black Diamond Just Sold for $4.3 Million and No One Knows Where it Came From or How it Was Formed

Feb 19, 2022

A giant black diamond with an origin unsolved for decades has sold at auction, despite scientists unsure whether it was formed from lava or dropped from a meteorite—or stranger things besides.

It’s easy to be romantic about diamonds. As well as being ‘forever’ and ‘a girl’s best friend,’ they also can harken back to the magic of J.R.R. Tolkien, in whose Hobbit fantasy the Hammer of Thor was forged in the heart of a dying star.

The extraordinary hardness of the stones, as well as the diversity of color, elicits theories about their formation that are equally incredible—and this jet black “carbonado” diamond weighing almost 4 ounces (111 grams), which is scientifically-unexplainable, is a perfect example.

Aptly named ‘The Enigma Diamond’, it fetched $4.3 million at Sotheby’s, as the largest faceted diamond to ever appear on the auction market. Weighing a staggering 555.55 carats, the black naturally-color diamond surpasses the weight of other giants like the 530-carat Great Star of Africa.

Cutting Enigma into its 55 facets took three years, due to the carbonado diamond’s hardness.

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/huge-my ... 4-million/



Credit: SOTHEBY’S

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

Amateur Australian gold digger finds massive nugget

9 hours ago

An Australian man armed with a budget metal detector has hit the jackpot, finding a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth A$240,000 (£130,000; $160,000).

The man, who doesn't want to be named, made the discovery in Victoria's goldfields - which were the heart of Australia's gold rush in the 1800s.

Darren Kamp, who valued and bought the specimen, said it is the biggest he's seen in his 43-year career.

"I was just gobsmacked... It's a once in a lifetime find," he told the BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65095925



Credit: DARREN KAMP

[wjfox]

[funkervogt]

Progress has been made using computers to accurately predict the structures of crystals. The researchers note that quantum computers will be very helpful in fully solving the problem in the future.
https://www.science.org/content/blog-po ... g-crystals

[funkervogt]

The future is arriving faster than I thought.

AI tool GNoME finds 2.2 million new crystals, including 380,000 stable materials that could power future technologies

https://deepmind.google/discover/blog/m ... -learning/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

World's second-largest diamond found in Botswana

22 August 2024

The second-largest diamond ever found - a rough 2,492-carat stone - has been unearthed in Botswana at a mine owned by Canadian firm Lucara Diamond.

It is the biggest find since the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond, found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels.

The diamond was found at Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of Botswana's capital, Gaborone.

Botswana's government said it was the largest diamond ever discovered in the southern African state.

The previous biggest discovery in Botswana was a 1,758-carat stone found at the same mine in 2019.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1w78rwlqvxo



Credit: Lucara Diamond

[Yuli Ban]

[funkervogt]

Lab-grown diamonds are better and 80% cheaper than natural diamonds mined from the ground. De Beers is rapidly losing money as a result. In the future, diamonds might not be considered markers of wealth or status.
https://www.economist.com/business/2024 ... nd-company

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]