Russian Diamonds

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popigai_Astroblem

http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2012/0917/Russia-reveals-shiny-state-secret-It-s-awash-in-diamonds

The more you know...

That's pretty interesting.

1 Trillion Carats is I think 440,924,524 lb's of diamonds.

So the price of diamond rings will go down?

Or will the people who control the rest of the diamonds in the world invade Russia and take over?

carguy123 wrote: So the price of diamond rings will go down? Or will the people who control the rest of the diamonds in the world invade Russia and take over?

Diamonds are actually funny... the amount of accessible, mine-ready diamonds on the planet is nothing to sneeze at, the price of diamonds nowadays are not really based on an actual "worth" but the fact they are diamonds.

No different than a Subie 2.5RS (which lots were built and sold) still command a premium, even though you can get better/rarer cars for the same price.

Also, from what I understand, just like OPEC, there is a similiar mining consortium that makes sure a "proper" price is maintained for diamonds. It's really a racket when you read into it.

Far out!

Another reason why controlling the worlds largest land mass is pretty nice.

The diamond companies (mostly DeBeers) funded a marketing campaign that convinced us that you needed to buy a diamond engagement ring. There is no cultural, religious or historical basis for a diamond. If Jade people would have done it, we'd all be buying Jade engagement rings.

They are doing the same in emerging economies like China to this day. They run huge campaigns that essentially say "turn your back on 3000 years of tradition. You have money, you want to be Western, buy a diamond for your fiancé!" In a few years, it will be considered the thing to do.

I feel like those diamonds probably aren't going to be used in engagement rings.

"Diamonds...that'll shut her up..."

Datsun1500 wrote: If you read the article, it says they are not jewelry grade diamonds. They are industrial grade (harder) and are used in cutting tools.

It says "some" of them are, not all.

Which the industrial grade will be worth good coin, as they are a harder (more rare?) type of industrial grade diamond it sounds like that only happens in specific circumstances.

Datsun1500 wrote: If you read the article, it says they are not jewelry grade diamonds. They are industrial grade (harder) and are used in cutting tools.

It talked about them being harder but it never said they weren't jewelry grade.

I was under the impression that most industrial grade diamonds were synthetic and produced by GE?

In communist Russia.... Now you have a friend in the diamond business. Shane co.

In reply to imirk:

Most prolly are, but zirconium isn't quite as hard as real diamonds IIRC.

In reply to BoostedBrian:

I have to listen to those commercials everyday.....

HiTempguy wrote: Diamonds are actually funny... the amount of accessible, mine-ready diamonds on the planet is nothing to sneeze at, the price of diamonds nowadays are not really based on an actual "worth" but the fact they are diamonds.

Well, they have to be the right kind of diamonds. They have to be big. Until we run out of big, then they are graded by clarity. Until we run low on those, and then they're graded by color. And around and around.

No different than a Subie 2.5RS (which lots were built and sold) still command a premium, even though you can get better/rarer cars for the same price.

I dunno, I've driven stock and modified 2.5RSes and even at $5-6k they're still cheap for how awesome they are.

Knurled wrote: Well, they have to be the right *kind* of diamonds. They have to be big. Until we run out of big, then they are graded by clarity. Until we run low on those, and then they're graded by color. And around and around.

Yes, and if you've read any articles on the subject lately, it is quite clear there is a relative glut of diamonds on the market. They have no particular value in comparison to how much they sell for IMO.

As for the 2.5RS, I love them to. But a 02/03 WRX for the same price is a better car in every way imaginable.

4cylndrfury wrote:

That has to be the funniest ad parody of all time!

Industrial grade diamonds actually make up a huge share of the diamond market. Mined industrial grade diamonds were called bort and were very expensive until the Russians and then GE started synthesizing them. Bort also refers to the waste chips and dust that is a byproduct of cutting gem quality diamonds.

Many people believe that even though GE produced the first artificial diamonds, the Russians were synthesizing gem quality diamonds economically enough to start flooding the markets with their "silver bears" well before most people were aware of artificial diamonds. They also started pumping out massive amounts of synthetic industrial diamonds.

If you want a good read on the subject, read Edward J. Epstein's "The Diamond Invention". http://edwardjayepstein.com/diamond/prologue.htm

With this new info I wonder if this area has already been mined and some of the diamonds coming out of Russia are from this crater.

Diamonds have been coming out of this crater for decades, the Russians just finally announced just how much they really have.

Gulag prisoners were mining this place all the way back to Stalin.