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Dec 14, 2020
The $15.7M surprise from Canada’s Victor Mine
In October 2020, a flawless D-colour 102 carat diamond sold for $15.7 million US (read more here). Diamonds like this make headlines from...


Dec 7, 2020
Diamond, a technological gem in the quantum realm
Diamond, clearly, is synonymous with the gemological trade but in the last 20 years of material science research, diamond is now firmly...


Nov 27, 2020
Where is the oldest diamond-bearing mantle?
Quartz conglomerates from Nunavut in northern Canada (near the Coronation Gulf) are one part of the puzzle to figure out when and how the...


Sep 13, 2020
Where does the carbon for diamonds come from?
We know that subduction is the key way to get carbon into the diamond-forming regions of the deep Earth. But which rocks in the...

Sep 10, 2020
How were diamonds discovered in Siberia?
Siberia has among the highest grade diamond mines in the world. But did you know that we had two women to thank for their discovery? The...


Jun 30, 2020
Why do we want to learn more about nitrogen in diamond?
Nitrogen is the most common trace element in both natural and laboratory-grown diamonds, and the number and nature of the...


May 25, 2020
Retracing the path of kimberlite melt composition
Kimberlites are complex volcanic eruptions that have ferociously traversed more than a hundred kilometers of rock from source to surface....

May 20, 2020
What fluids do diamonds crystallise from?
Diamonds are comprised mostly of carbon. Any other elements present in the diamond are normally at incredibly low abundances that are...


May 24, 2019
Mineral inclusions in diamonds
Colourless olivine inclusion in a natural rough octahedral diamond. Image by Stefano Castelli (University of Padova). Natural diamonds...


May 24, 2019
Where can we find more natural diamonds?
Image of a garnet mineral inclusion in diamond by Anetta Banas (University of Alberta). Natural diamonds are rare. Where should diamond...


May 24, 2019
CLIPPIR diamonds: leading us on a voyage of discovery to the deep mantle
CLIPPIR is an abbreviation for diamonds that are Cullinan-like, large, inclusion-poor, relatively-pure, irregularly-shaped and resorbed....
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