The Diamond's Birthday Journey

Step 1: Crystallization in the deep mantle

The journey of a diamond begins about 150 to 200 kilometers below the earth's surface, deep in the mantle. Here, pure carbon atoms are squeezed and crystallized at temperatures in excess of 1,000 degrees Celsius and extreme pressures tens of thousands of times the atmospheric pressure, forming diamonds, the hardest substance on Earth.

Step 2: A Quick Trip to Volcanic Eruption

Millions of years later, deep volcanic eruptions became the "high-speed elevator" for diamonds. These eruptions brought a type of magma called kimberlite or potassium-magnesium brilliant porphyry to the surface at extremely high speeds (even supersonic). Diamond crystals are encased in these magmas and undergo a fast and furious journey, avoiding turning back into graphite midway.

Step 3: Reach the Surface and Cool Down

When magma breaks through the Earth's crust, it forms a carrot-shaped tube on the surface called a "kimberlite tube". Here the magma cools and solidifies, locking up diamond deposits that have been brought up from deep within the mantle over millions of years. These pipes became major diamond deposits.

Step 4: Sourcing and Finding

The process of mining diamonds is extremely difficult. Miners need to dig through hundreds of tons of rock and dirt to find just one carat of rough diamond. The main methods of mining include:

• Open-pit mining: As the pipe nears the surface, a huge spiral pit is formed.
• Underground mining: As the pit deepened, underground tunnels were dug to extract the diamond-bearing rock.
• Alluvial mining: Some of the diamonds are washed down by rivers into riverbeds or along the coast, requiring the sifting of large quantities of gravel to find them.

The mined rock is subjected to multiple crushing, screening and high-tech sorting (e.g., X-ray) before the precious raw diamonds are finally separated.