At present around 30 tons of diamond are mined annually. This does not translate, however, into the quantity of new diamonds coming into being in the world, for only 20% of all diamond mined has a chance of becoming actual diamonds. The criteria for this complicated selection, as a result of which the lion's share of stones are set aside for industrial purposes, are worthy of their own story, while today our subject is the first step on the thorny road to becoming a diamond, extraction.

Here of course we are talking about diamond mining. From a chemical point of view, diamond is a variant of carbon, one which comes into being in volcanic magma as a result of colossal pressure and extremely high temperature. It is thus natural that one of the fundamental sources in diamond extraction are extinct volcanoes. A second significant source in the extraction of these precious stones are river channels, both running and dry, with the third distributed site of diamond appearance being sandy coasts.

Once we know where to search for diamond, it is time to ask the question of how to find it. There are several methods of tracking diamonds down. When it comes to extinct volcanoes, an ore containing diamonds (kimberlite) is obtained with the aid of digging, breaking or blasting, which is then ground and rinsed out. In the case of river channels, diamonds are extracted by digging for gravel and rinsing. Often utilised during this last is a certain interesting and little-known property of diamonds, namely their adhesion to various kinds of fat; rinsing takes place with the aid of a channel coated with this, the grains of the other minerals flowing through with water, and the diamonds remaining in the container! Sandy coasts are searched in an analogous manner.

Bearing testimony to the difficulty of diamond extraction is also the fact that the acquisition of one carat of diamond requires the extraction of around 250 tons of gravel, sand or even rock! These are average data, meaning that it is possible to extract 500, or even 1,000 tons of rock and not find even the smallest diamond! These overwhelming statistics bring us inevitably the conclusion that in order not to give up, those extracting the precious stone must be as hard as diamond themselves!