This content was first published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review no. 12 in 2021. The information provided here is therefore current as of the original publication date.
In June 2021 a herd-man first unearthed a transparent and colorless stone on an open field. Diamonds? He put out the word. And so, on June 12, a frantic race began in the direction of what everyone thought was an unexpected El Dorado. We’re not in Madagascar or even Northern Mozambique or Congo, countries rich in alluvial gem deposits but poor in infrastructure, economy diversification and job opportunities. Instead, we are in KwaHlathi in the KwaZulu-Natal region, in the Republic of South Africa, long considered the African country with the most advanced economy. But something must have changed if more than 1,000 fortune seekers moved from all over the country to the area, believing they could turn their lives around and become rich.
This adventure ended in the worst possible way. After conducting numerous tests, it was confirmed that the colorless stones were not diamonds, but simple colorless quartz, rock crystals, with a value not well defined, but certainly lower than expected.
South Africa has recorded, since the end of the 800’s, an intense activity of diamond exploitation, but today the alluvial resources and open pit mines are almost completely exhausted and for years the cultivation of deep deposits has been slower than neighboring countries.
Ironically, while in the South African Natal the great mirage of new diamonds was attracting many desperate people to KwaHlathi, a 1,098-carat single stone, believed to be the third largest “gem-quality” rough diamond ever found was discovered in Botswana by Debswana Diamond, a company shared by De Beers and Botswana government. It never rains but it pours. Isn’t it? Certainly the distances are increasing and very little remains for small artisanal mining companies in South Africa. After the confirmation that this was just quartz, the South African authorities promised a more extensive study of the area to assess the presence of economically useful minerals, so as to increase employment in a poor area, severely damaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
Gem News published on IGR – Italian Gemological Review #12, Summer 2021
