'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."