Modern Marvels: Journey into the World of Diamond Mining (S7, E51) | Full Episode

HISTORY

24 Jun 202344:22

EducationalLearning

32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThis script traces the epic journey of diamonds, from their volcanic origins deep underground to the coveted gems they become. It explores the accidental discovery of diamonds in India and Brazil, the diamond rush in South Africa, and De Beers' establishment of the first diamond cartel. Technical innovations like mining in frigid Siberian permafrost advanced the industry. Recently, major finds in Canada and manufactured diamonds have disrupted De Beers' long-standing monopoly. Throughout history diamonds have been treasured for their extreme hardness, brilliance, and rarity - a mystique unchanged by their geological pedigree as pure crystallized carbon.

Takeaways

😲 Diamonds are the world's oldest substance, formed deep underground from carbon under intense heat and pressure
💎 Diamonds were first mined in India, later found in large quantities in Brazil and South Africa sparking diamond rushes
👷 Cecil Rhodes consolidated ownership of South African mines under De Beers, establishing the first diamond cartel
🌊 De Beers pioneered marine mining, extracting diamonds buried off Namibia's coast using ships with vacuum and screening equipment
❄️ Russia found large diamond deposits in Siberian permafrost, posing engineering challenges to keep mines permanently frozen
🔬 After many failed attempts, GE scientists led by Tracy Hall first manufactured tiny synthetic diamonds in the lab in 1954
💲 The discovery of Canadian deposits loosened De Beers' control, and more mines outside their cartel emerged, increasing supply
🔎 Diamonds are tested, cut and polished by experts before graded gems are sold to elite manufacturers invited to De Beers sites
🤑 Botswana's economy transformed due to rich diamond deposits, with sorting and valuation facilities processing over 11 million carats yearly
⚗️ Some extracted meteorite diamonds originated as interstellar carbon atoms in long-dead stars, making them older than Earth itself

Q & A

Who discovered that diamonds are made of carbon?
-British chemist Smithson Tennant discovered in the early 1800s that diamonds are made of carbon by burning equal weights of diamond and graphite/charcoal and showing they produced the same amount of carbon dioxide.
How are natural diamonds formed?
-Diamonds form naturally underground at depths of about 100 miles where there is intense heat and pressure. Over billions of years, carbon atoms bond together into diamond crystals that get brought up to Earth's surface by volcanic eruptions.
How did the discovery of diamonds in South Africa lead to the creation of the De Beers company?
-The diamond rush in South Africa in the late 1800s led Cecil Rhodes to gain control of local diamond mines. He eventually merged his company with rival Barnato to form De Beers, which came to control over 95% of the world's diamonds.
What methods are used for deep sea mining of diamonds?
-Ships use suction systems with horizontal seabed crawlers or vertical rotating drill bits to suck up diamond-bearing gravel from the ocean floor for processing.
How are rough diamonds transformed into polished gems?
-Diamond cleavers cut rough stones to remove flaws and maximize size/weight. Then diamond cutters meticulously facet the stones using diamond-coated wheels. The cut impacts factors like brilliance.
How are diamonds graded and certified?
-Gemologists examine diamonds under magnification to assess clarity grade, use master stones for color grading, check fluorescence in a black box, and use imaging/proportion analysis. Grades are recorded on certificates.
Who first manufactured synthetic diamonds and how?
-In 1954, Tracy Hall of GE created the first reproducible synthetic diamonds using an apparatus that applied high heat and pressure to carbon source material.
Where do pre-solar diamonds come from?
-Pre-solar diamonds form in the atmospheres of stars before our solar system formed and get incorporated into meteorites - making them older than Earth.
How did Cecil Rhodes help establish the diamond industry?
-Cecil Rhodes started consolidating control of South African mines in the 1800s. He helped implement centralized coordination of diamond distribution to maintain value.
What enabled the discovery of Canadian diamond deposits?
-Geologists Chuck Fipke and Stu Blusson discovered diamond indicator minerals in the Northwest Territories in the 1970s and 80s, eventually staking claims on the large diamond deposits there.

Outlines

00:00

Diamond Rush 💎

Paragraph 1 introduces diamonds, describing them as beautiful gems made of carbon that come from deep inside the earth. It then transitions to an open-pit diamond mine in Botswana, explaining how the mining is done using benches, hydraulic shovels, crushers, and processing plants to extract diamonds.

05:01

Diamond Composition 🤔

Paragraph 2 explains what diamonds are composed of - just carbon, like the graphite in pencils. It traces the discovery of this fact over time, from Lavoisier showing diamonds can burn to Tennant proving they produce carbon dioxide like other forms of carbon.

10:01

Early Diamond Mining 🚧

Paragraph 3 covers the early history of diamond mining, from the first diamond miners in India to diamonds discovered in Brazil and then the great South African diamond rush sparked by a diamond found on a farm in 1869.

15:02

De Beers Monopoly 💰

Paragraph 4 focuses on the establishment of the De Beers diamond monopoly, starting with Cecil Rhodes consolidating claims and ending with Ernest Oppenheimer creating single-channel marketing and central selling to control diamond supply and demand.

20:05

Diamond Mining Challenges ⛏️

Paragraph 5 discusses some of the challenges faced in diamond mining, like mining in the extreme Arctic cold on permafrost in Siberia and pioneering deep sea mining for diamonds off the coast of Namibia.

25:08

High-Tech Processing 🤖

Paragraph 6 details the advanced technology used to process diamonds today, including automated sorting, cleaning and packaging machines with hidden surveillance systems to prevent theft of the valuable gems.

30:08

From Rough to Jewel 💎

Paragraph 7 follows diamonds from the initial sorting and valuation of rough stones to the expert hand cleaving and cutting that transforms them into dazzling jewelry pieces worth millions.

35:09

Synthetic Diamonds 💠

Paragraph 8 recounts efforts to create synthetic diamonds in the lab, from failed attempts in the 1800s to GE scientists finally succeeding in the 1950s and creating a growing market for man-made diamonds today.

40:12

Space Diamonds 🌟

Paragraph 9 reveals that diamonds have also come from outer space, describing nano-scale diamonds that originated in dying stars and pre-date the formation of our solar system.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡diamond

Diamonds are a precious gem made of carbon that form deep underground at high temperatures and pressures. They are brought to the earth's surface by volcanic eruptions and found in mines and rivers. Diamonds are prized for their beauty, durability and rarity, making them very valuable. The video explores the formation, mining, processing and sale of diamonds around the world.

💡mining

Mining refers to the extraction of diamonds and other minerals from the earth. The video shows different types of diamond mining, including open pit mines, underground mines, and ocean mining from ships. Advanced technology is used to locate diamond deposits and efficiently extract them.

💡carbon

Diamonds are made almost entirely of carbon. Understanding that diamond is a form of carbon was a key scientific discovery that showed its composition is the same as graphite. The video explains how creating the high temperatures and pressures that exist deep underground allows researchers to convert other carbon-based materials into diamonds in a lab.

💡pipe

A kimberlite pipe is a vertical, carrot-shaped volcanic rock formation that can contain diamonds and other minerals. The video shows how these underground pipe structures act as elevators, bringing up diamonds from deep in the earth to near the surface where they can be mined.

💡cutting

Cutting and polishing transforms rough, irregularly shaped diamonds into the sparkling faceted gems used in jewelry. Master diamond cutters cleave, saw and grind facets onto diamonds at precise angles to maximize brilliance, color and value. Cut quality is one of the four Cs used to grade diamonds.

💡sorting

Sorting separates rough diamonds by qualities like color, clarity, shape and size to determine their value and best use. The video shows how experts at mines and processing facilities use complex systems to efficiently sort large volumes of diamonds for sale or cutting.

💡laser

Lasers are used in diamond processing for inscription and sometimes cutting. Tiny laser engraved inscriptions on the diamond girdle can mark logos, ID numbers or security data. The video shows how an ultraviolet laser delicately inscribes a diamond without damaging it.

💡moissanite

Moissanite is a mineral that looks similar to diamond but costs much less. The video explains how in 1893 Henri Moissan claimed to have created diamonds in a lab furnace, but later analysis showed he had actually produced silicon carbide, which was named moissanite in his honor.

💡certification

Diamond certification authenticates the qualities of each stone. The video shows the detailed scientific analysis done by gemologists, resulting in diamond certificates that confirm carat, cut, color, clarity and other attributes.

💡de beers

De Beers company dominated and controlled most of the global diamond supply and pricing for around 100 years. The video chronicles innovations by De Beers like underground mining in Kimberley and single-channel marketing that made diamonds more valuable and established the engagement ring tradition.

Highlights

Proposed a new deep learning model called Transformer that achieved state-of-the-art results in neural machine translation

Showed that attention-based mechanisms can be superior to RNNs and CNNs for many NLP tasks

Introduced multi-headed self-attention to allow modeling different context dependencies

Demonstrated the effectiveness of Transformer models on large-scale machine translation datasets

Discussed how Transformer's parallelizable architecture allows for fast training compared to sequential RNNs

Highlighted the potential of self-attention models for other tasks like document summarization

Emphasized the importance of large training datasets for achieving good results with data-hungry Transformer models

Pointed out some limitations of Transformer such as quadratic complexity and lack of inductive bias

Suggested ideas for improving Transformer such as sparse attention and convolutional layers

Discussed follow-up work applying Transformer to new domains like computer vision

Highlighted interesting societal impacts of more powerful NLP models

Pointed out risks of misuse of large language models

Emphasized need for oversight and ethical considerations when deploying powerful AI systems

Called for collaboration between technologists, policymakers, and civil society to guide development of AI

Stressed importance of transparency, accountability and fairness in AI systems impacting people's lives

Transcripts

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