'Quadrillion' tons of diamonds discovered deep below Earth's surface

foxnews.com ^ | 7/17/18 | Jennifer Earl

[a little elbow grease]

(snip) --- A team of scientists made an enormous discovery when they recently uncovered a "quadrillion" tons of diamonds buried more than 100 miles below Earth's surface, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and several other universities used seismic devices to measure the speed of sound waves traveling through the Earth's crust.

"Sound waves move at various speeds through the Earth, depending on the temperature, density, and composition of the rocks through which they travel," MIT explained in a news release. "Scientists have used this relationship between seismic velocity and rock composition to estimate the types of rocks that make up the Earth’s crust and parts of the upper mantle, also known as the lithosphere."

__________

(snip) --- Unfortunately, there's no way to access the gemstones — as drills are unable to dig 200 miles into the Earth's crust. But researchers say it proves diamonds aren't as rare as we once thought.

[simpson96]

Dittos.

So many people have been bamboozled into thinking diamonds are worth their high price.

[bgill]

A cubic zirconium has more sparkle and you have enough $$$$$ left to pay the rent and feed the kids.

[a little elbow grease]

"OK...all those who volunteer to go down after them, please step to the front...anybody? anybody? hello?"

________

LOL

I'm almost hearing, "Bueller, Bueller, Bueller?"

[a little elbow grease]

"When raised from below into our lower atmospheric pressure from their present high pressure state, they expand and become giant marshmallows."

________

[jonno]

Ron White on DeBeers & diamonds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrYB-ZvIuPE

[deadrock]

Sure, your new vehicle depreciates quickly as you drive it off the lot, but it will not depreciate as fast as the value of diamonds if quadrillion of them hit the surface.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Diamonds aren’t rare, just pretty. That is why the industry has controlled the production and distribution for decades, rather than flood the market with them as fast as they are mined. They could sell a lot more diamonds but prices would plunge once the secret got out that they are not rare.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks a little elbow grease and ETL.

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[tbw2]

If you own Debeers, sell it now.

[BBell]

All of the world’s problems are solved. Everybody is going to be rich. If that gold and platinum asteroid mining operation comes to fruition we will all have Escalade and yachts and gold grills!

[BBell]

I need to start minin sea water. I’m gonna need a really big sifter pan.

[Tucker39]

As I understand it, diamonds in Africa were originally discovered lying around on top of the ground. There is apparently something about them, or the soil they are in, or temperature variations that over time causes them to migrate to the surface.

That is what the book, “Acres of Diamonds”, is all about. A poor African man with a few acres of land wore himself out trying to make a living on his “rocky” farm. He finally gave up and sold the place. The new owner discovered that all those “rocks” lying all over the place were actually rough diamonds that had worked up from far below.

Some of these newly discovered diamonds 200 miles down may actually be working their way upwards, too. How near the surface are they? How long until they reach the surface? And WHERE will they surface? Those geologists may have a clue or two. Or maybe nobody knows.

[Paal Gulli]

DeBeers has been hoarding diamonds since Sir Cecil Rhodes ran the company. They still have diamonds he had locked away in 1888. And it was Rhodes who personally convinced all the other diamond companies to do the same. Then they went on to create the international diamond cartel and have controlled prices ever since.

Not to mention wholesalers also engage in price fixing, and retailers charge 100-200% mark-up. When commercial diamond mining went big in Australia, they had the potential to undercut the cartel, but why would they when the cartel’s business model had such a ridiculously high profit margin? Compared to industrial diamonds and adjusted for their true rarity, gem-quality diamonds are overpriced by a factor of more than 100.

They didn’t even become the stone of choice for engagement rings until DeBeers created a new ad campaign to boost weak sales during the Great Depression. And that campaign was so effective that it’s now part of the fabric of our culture. A slightly altered version of the slogan they ran that campaign on even gave Ian Fleming the title of one of his Bond novels: “A Diamond Is Forever.” So peer pressure stemming from an ad campaign, not tradition, is the true reason you have to buy your betrothed a rock which not only isn’t remotely fungible, your only means of assessing its genuineness is an assay performed by a member of the same international cartel who sold you the damn thing to start with.

[Sgt_Schultze]

DeBeers actually knows the jig is up on their scam. Here is a link to a recent story describing how they are now embracing manufactured diamonds as an alternative product line.