'Mega-diamond' put on grinder

2007-08-28 20:33

Johannesburg - The discovery in North West of a gem touted as the world's biggest diamond, sparked a stir on Tuesday, but experts doubted the stone was a diamond.

The news prompted a wave of excitement because if the gem turns out to be a diamond, it would be the world's largest by far, twice as big as the Cullinan diamond discovered in South Africa more than 100 years ago.

Property developer Brett Jolly said he planned to have an accredited gemmologist verify within 48 hours whether the gem was a diamond.

"It's over 8 000 carats ... (but) I don't even know that it's a diamond yet. I'm a property developer, not a diamond miner," he told Reuters.

"We put it on a garage grinder and the thing won't scratch, so what can it be?"

The unpolished Cullinan, also known as the Star of Africa, was 3 107 carats when De Beers found it in 1905. The cut stone now resides in the Tower of London, set in the sceptre of King Edward VII.

De Beers is the world's largest diamond producer.

Jolly declined to say where exactly in North West the gem had been found and also would not identify his privately owned company as some shareholders had not been informed.

An official from SA's Diamond Board said it had no information on the discovery. Experts said the gem was probably not a diamond.

"I would say it's not a diamond from looking at a picture on a website," said James Allan, a former top-rated diamond analyst who jointly runs the small corporate finance firm.

"The crystal looks far too perfect and it looks like it's a fluorite crystal or something else. I'd be extremely surprised if it was a diamond."

- Reuters