What Are the Raw Materials for Pink Diamonds?

Diamond Location

• When a volcano was erupting, molten lava from the earth's core rose to the surface. When the lava cooled down inside the volcano's central hole, it plugged the hole up with the minerals kimberlite and llamproite. This formed a conic kimberlite pipe. Think of a kimperlite pipe as a giant carrot stuck in the ground. The top of the carrot may be a mile or more across, and the length is perhaps 2 miles or 3 miles deep. Diamonds are only found in kimberlite pipes.

Clear Diamond Formation

• Because diamonds are found in kimberlite pipes, only the extreme heat and pressure of a volcano can form a diamond. Millions of years ago, some carbon rocks became trapped inside the lava of active volcanoes. Carbon is one the most abundant materials on earth. Coal and graphite are made out of carbon. Because of the extreme heat and pressure, the carbon rock became transparent (like glass) and transformed into a clear diamond.

Pink Diamond Formation

• Researchers sought to understand why a pink diamond is pink. In 2010, the Smithsonian Institution assembled a team of nine scientists to investigate the phenomenon.. The team analyzed a pink diamond down to the last molecule. What they found was amazing. A clear diamond is composed only of carbon. A pink diamond is also composed only of carbon, but the arrangement of the carbon is different. A pink diamond has grains, similar to wood graining in a plank. Clear areas of the grain form ordinary clear diamonds. The dark streaks are carbon that has been compressed even further than a clear diamond. Because the molecules are packed more tightly together in the darker grains, they only allow pink light to shine through. The conclusion reached was that a pink diamond started out as a clear diamond. The clear diamond was subjected to even more heat and pressure, and formed grains. This can only happen in the deepest part of the volcano. Natural Earth forces, over millions of years, moved the pink diamonds from the bottom of the kimberlite pipe up to the surface.

Pink Diamond Valuation

• Diamonds are rare, being found only in kimberlite pipes. A clear diamond about the size of a pearl can be worth thousands of dollars. A pink diamond, due to it being formed deep inside a volcano, is even more rare. A pink diamond about the size of a pearl can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the jewelry firm of Leibish and Company, pink diamonds can fetch $100,000 a carat. A one-carat diamond is about the size of a small pearl.