8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page i D i a m o n d 8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page ii A J o u r n e y t o t h e H e a r t o f a n O b s e s s i o n wa l k e r & c o m pa n y n ew yo r k 8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page iii D i a m o n d (cid:2) M a t t h e w H a r t 8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page iv Copyright © 2001 by Matthew Hart All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher. First published in the United States of America in 2001 by Walker Publishing Company, Inc. ISBN 0-8027-9928-0 8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page v To Heather 8863--Diamond 9/7/01 2:31 PM Page vii C O N T E N T S 1. A Large Pink 1 2. The Diamond Seas 22 3. The Middle Empire 32 4. The Long Hunt 60 5. Rush in the Barrens 84 6. The End of the Old Cartel 113 7. The Manufacture of Desire 138 8. Bad Goods 159 9. The Diamond Wars 182 10. Diamond Cutter 201 11. Rosy Blue 223 12. The Dogrib Country 241 Appendix 253 Selected Bibliography 255 Acknowledgments 259 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Garimpeiros’ barges on the abaete. (Matthew Hart) 3 2. Gilmar Campos with the pink (Matthew Hart) 5 3. A garimpeiro. (Matthew Hart) 7 4. An assortment of rough diamonds at the Diamond Trading Company, London. Each pile is valued at $500,000, demonstrating the wide range in per-carat prices between large and small stones. (De Beers) 13 5. A kimberlite pipe. (BHPDiamonds) 25 6. Barney Barnato (De Beers) 38 7. Early digs at Kimberly. (De Beers) 40 8. Cecil rhodes (De Beers) 42 9 The checks that started the cartel: With the sudden payment of 5,338,650. Cecil Rhodes dissolved the last opposition to his takeover of the Kimberly mine. (De Beers) 44 10 Joseph Asscher cleaving the Cullinan diamond in Amsterdam, February 14, 1908. (De Beers) 46 11. Models of polished gems from the Cullinan rough. Cullinan I, also known as the Great Star of Africa, weighs 530.2 carats— the largest diamond in the world. It is set in the British royal scepter. (De Beers) 47 12. Ernest Oppenheimer. (De Beers) 49 13. Southern Africa 52 14. Botswana 56 15. Chris Jennings placing a geophysical probe in Botswana in 1965. (Jennings family) 62 16. John Gurney. (John Gurney) 65 17. Extracting an ore sample from an African kimberlite target. (Matthew Hart) 66 18. Northwestern Canada 75 19 Chris Jennings ice fishing in the Barrens. (Jennings family) 80 20. Robert Gannicott. (Aber Diamond Corporation) 86 21. Gren Thomas (Gren Thomas) 88 22. Eira Thomas. (Matthew Hart) 94 23. A diamond-exploration camp at the edge of the Barrens. (Matthew Hart) 96 24. The winter road. (Matthew Hart) 105 25. Using a magnetometer to pinpoint a target pipe at Lac de Gras. (Aber Diamond Corporation) 106 26. Eira Thomas in 1999, in front of the shaft that tunneled out under Lac de Gras to sample her discovery— the A-154 pipe. (Matthew Hart) 111 27. Tokyo Sexwale. (Trans Hex Group) 115 28. London’s Diamond Quarter 122 29. Sorters at the Diamond Trading Company, London. (De Beers) 124 30. Simon Teakle with a close model of the Ahmadabad, a 78.86-carat top-color diamond acquired for Christie’s by Teakle, and auctioned at Geneva for $4,324,554. (Christie’s) 151 31. Vacuuming rough at Namdeb on the Diamond Coast. (De Beers) 162 32. A De Beers mining ship off Namibia. (De Beers) 167 33. William Goldberg. (William Goldberg Diamond Corporation) 203 34. Motti Bernstein marking the yellow. (Matthew Hart) 205 35. An illustration of the importance of proportion. In the well-cut diamond on the left, the angles are such that light entering the top bounces around inside the stone and comes back out the top, creating brilliance. In the shallow-cut diamond in the center and the deep-cut diamond on the right, the angles cause the light to leak from the bottom, reducing brilliance. (Dia Met Minerals) 211 36. Left to right: The top, bottom, and side views of a diamond polished into the classic brilliant cut devised by Marcel Tolkowsky in 1914. 217 37. Facet plan of the Centenary diamond showing the complex scheme that yielded 247 facets. (De Beers) 219