BRYSON BURKE
Home
Mission
Board
History
Business Plan
Latest Information
Building Our Drill
Innovation
Photo Album
Satellite Weather
Free News - Sign Guestbook

INVESTING
Investment
Stock Quotes

COMMUNICATION
Press Releases
Newsletter
Current Information
Contact

SITE GEOLOGY
Geology Reports
Site Geologic History
Magnetic Maps Index
Heavy Minerals Index
Grenville Province Index

DIAMOND POLITICS
Blood Diamonds
Kimberley Process

DIAMOND GEOLOGY
Indicator Minerals
Kimberlites
Decay of Kimberlites
Kimberlites & Magnetics
Placer Deposits
Magnetic Reversal
Crustal Thickness
How Diamonds are Made
Glaciation Issues
Mineral Transport Index
Doing the Map Work
Gathering Samples
World Mining Index
Excavation and Recovery
Mining Corporations
Mining News Magazines
Environmental Issues
Diamonds in Space
World's Only MineCam
Live Volcano Geo-Cams

EXPLORATION
Site Exploration History
Topography Map Index
Location Map
Claim Maps Index

DIAMONDS
Diamonds and Graphite
Diamond Formation
Grading Diamonds
Price of Diamonds
Industrial Diamonds
Drilling Equipment
Medical Use of Diamonds
Gemstones
Birthstones
Hall of Fame

DIAMONDS IN CULTURE
Good Books on Diamonds
Cremains to Diamonds
Diamonds in Lawsuits
Irish Diamonds
Unusual Diamond News
Diamonds in the Media
Famous Jewelers
In Advertisements
Top Twenty Cut Diamonds
Top Diamonds
Diamond Lore
Theft/Hoaxes/and Fraud
Religion Index
Diamond/ Culture Index
Television
Movies
Games - Play Now
Music
Weddings
Royals
Our Darlings
Diamond Animal Index

INTERACTIVE
Reflection/Refraction Index
Crossword Puzzle Index
Which Is A Diamond I
Which is a Diamond II
Become a Gemologist

On a hot morning in May 1999, three Brazilian garimpeiros (small-scale miners) found a large pink diamond in the muddy waters of the Abaete River, a discovery that captivated the diamond trade. Beginning with this dramatic and revealing story, Matthew Hart takes readers on a journey far beyond the window at Tiffany's, into an obsessive, largely hidden, and utterly fascinating world.

From the fog-bound smugglers' paradise of Africa's Diamond Coast to the Manhattan offices of one of the world's most flamboyant diamantaires; from the London salesrooms of De Beers, which manages the longest-running cartel in modern business history, to a truck-parts shop fronting a diamond brokerage in Brazil, Matthew Hart has followed the diamond trail, encountering characters as memorable as the stones they seek. He recreates the modern history of diamonds, starting in 1869 when a native boy in South Africa found a large crystal on a farm, sparking a rush that brought Cecil Rhodes and Ernest Oppenheimer their glory. He chronicles the sensational diamond strike in the 1990s in Canada's Northwest Territories that has shaken the fortress of the old cartel, and profiles the audacious young female geologist Eira Thomas who, against all odds, discovered near the Arctic Circle one of the richest diamond fields in the world. He watches one of the finest diamond cutters operating on a priceless stone and portrays the lives of the countless, nameless cutters in India who have transformed the industry by making valuable the tiny stones that were once considered worthless.

Diamonds also have their dark side. "Malfeasance rustles in the background of the diamond world like a snake in dry grass," writes Hart as he documents the relentless and ingenious thievery that pervades the business and the even more damaging revelations of "war diamonds" financing brutal conflicts in Africa. The diamond world is at a crossroads, he notes, and "who will rule diamonds now and what form the once-secretive business will take are the issues of the day."

In the end, it is the stone itself that fascinates and bewitches the reader. Diamonds are accidents of nature, carbon crystals compressed deep underground millions of years ago; parts of them may even predate the Earth itself. And they are elusive, carried to the surface only in slender volcanoes known as "pipes," most of which are actually barren. Matthew Hart has captured the essence of an exotic substance and its world as surely as a diamond captures light: bending it, reflecting it, and returning it in a blaze of color.

Diamonds: A Journey to the Heart of an Obsession

Jan.2002
By Matthew Hart
Walker and Co., New York ($26.00)

Matthew Hart is a gifted story-teller. His new book is fact, but it reads like a novel. He turns the search and mining of diamonds into a spell-binding drama.

The scope of his new book is focused on several large diamonds finds — an 81-carat pink from the jungles of Brazil, and the discovery of Canada’s first major diamond mine by explorer Charles Fipke. While we are very familiar with the story of Fipke, the book also tells the previously unknown (to us, anyway) story of Eira Thomas, a 24-year-old female geologist who played a major role in the Canadian rush. It’s a fascinating angle to the story, since it’s common to think of diamond explorers and adventures as mostly men.

His book also covers the controversy over "conflict diamonds," the wholesale diamond trade and the cutting of the 599-carat Centenary Diamond, the adventures of explorer Chris Jennings, and the history of Antwerp diamond wholesaler Rosy Blue.

Hart has written on diamonds for such publications as the Atlantic Monthly and the Financial Post, as well as the Rapaport Report. While portions of his book, such as the tale of the battles in South Africa between Cecil Rhodes and Barney Banato, the diamond moguls that formed De Beers, have been told many times, Mr. Hart’s book is hard to put down.

Diamond dealers, connoisseurs, people who want to learn more about this industry, as well as adventure enthusiasts will find this book fascinating reading.