Origin of name
The "Star of Sierra Leone" is the largest diamond to be
discovered in the alluvial deposits of Sierra Leone. The diamond is a
colorless, lustrous and pellucid crystal, features that are so
characteristic of the exceptional quality colorless diamonds found in the
country. The name Star of Sierra Leone appears to have been inspired by the lustrous
nature of this enormous crystal.
Characteristics of the
diamond
The rough diamond was an enormous colorless and
transparent crystal weighing 969.8 carats, which was subsequently cut into
17 stones, 13 of which were flawless.
The largest stone that was cut from the diamond weighed
143.20 carats originally, but was flawed. To eliminate the flaws the stone
had to be re-cut again, with a drastic reduction in weight, resulting
finally in a pear-shaped, colorless, and flawless, 53.96 carat diamond.
Diamonds of Sierra Leone have an international reputation
as one of the highest gem quality diamonds in the world. The diamonds are so
pure and free of inclusions, that some of them are known as "glasses", clear,
transparent and absolutely colorless. Even though the diamonds derived from
the "Star of Sierra Leone" have not been graded for color and clarity, in
all probability they are D-color diamonds and perhaps internally flawless.
Being D-color diamonds, the Star of Sierra Leone diamonds
are Type IIa diamonds, that are characterized as chemically pure and
structurally perfect. They are chemically pure due the absence of impurities
such as nitrogen, boron, hydrogen etc. which can cause color in diamonds.
They are structurally perfect due to absence of plastic distortions in the
crystal, which can also impart rare fancy colors to the diamond. Thus in the
absence of factors that can impart color to diamonds, these diamonds are
absolutely colorless.
History
The Star of Sierra Leone diamond was discovered on
February 14, 1972, in the Diminco alluvial mines in the Koidu area of Sierra
Leone. Diminco is the abbreviated form of the state sponsored Diamond Mining
Company. The enormous diamond had a weight of 969.8 carats and was the largest
gem-quality rough diamond ever to be discovered in Sierra Leone. The largest
gem-quality diamond discovered previously in Sierra Leone was the 620-carat
"Sefadu" diamond, found in 1970.
The "Star of Sierra Leone" diamond has acquired the rare
distinction of being the largest alluvial diamond ever discovered in the
world. It is also the third largest gem-quality rough diamond ever to be
discovered in the world. See table below.
List of largest
gem-quality rough diamonds discovered in the world
|
Name |
Country of discovery |
Year of discovery |
Carat Weight |
Position |
|
Cullinan |
South Africa |
1905 |
3,106 |
1 |
|
Excelsior |
South Africa |
1893 |
995 |
2 |
|
Star of Sierra Leone |
Sierra Leone |
1972 |
969.80 |
3 |
|
Incomparable |
Zaire |
1984 |
890 |
4 |
|
Great Mogul |
India |
1650 |
787 |
5 |
|
Millennium Star |
Zaire |
1990 |
777 |
6 |
|
Woyie River |
Sierra Leone |
1945 |
770 |
7 |
|
Golden Jubilee |
South Africa |
1985 |
755 |
8 |
|
President Vargas |
Brazil |
1938 |
726.60 |
9 |
|
Jonker |
South Africa |
1934 |
726 |
10 |
|
Jubilee-Reitz |
South Africa |
1895 |
650.80 |
11 |
|
Unnamed |
South Africa |
1984 |
620.14 |
12 |
|
Sefadu |
Sierra Leone |
1970 |
620 |
13 |
|
Kimberley Octahedral |
South Africa |
|
616 |
14 |
|
Lesotho Promise |
Lesotho |
2006 |
603 |
15 |
|
Centenary |
South Africa |
1986 |
599 |
16 |
|
De Grisogono |
Central Africa |
|
587 |
17 |
|
Jacob-Victoria |
Ssouth Africa |
1884 |
457.50 |
18 |
|
Zale light of peace |
Sierra Leone |
1969 |
435 |
19 |
|
De Beers |
South Africa |
1888 |
428.50 |
20 |
|
Niarchos |
South Africa |
1954 |
426.50 |
21 |
The rough diamond was purchased by the world renowned
diamond dealers and jewelers Harry Winston Inc. of New York, in the same
year it was discovered. The cutting of the diamond was entrusted to Lazare
Kaplan the master cutter and cleaver who had descended from three
generations of jewelers and had previously earned the distinction of cutting
famous diamonds like the Jonker diamond in 1936. Mr. Kaplan learn the craft
of diamond cutting in Antwerp, Belgium, and pioneered the establishment of a
diamond cutting industry in Puerto Rico. He is always renowned for going in
for quality of a diamond, sometimes at the expense of quantity, bringing out
the maximum fire and brilliance in a stone.
Mr. Kaplan undertook a detailed study of the rough stone
which lasted more than one year. The diamond was finally cleaved in front of
a nationwide TV audience in America, and thus the "Star of Sierra Leone"
became almost a household name in America. The Government of Sierra Leone
issued a special commemoration stamp marking the event, and a special
feature of this stamp was its diamond-like shape with a crown, table and
pavilion, with the following print appearing on it -" SIERRA LEONE - "The
Star of Sierra Leone" - Harry Winston."
The diamond was cleaved into 17 pieces, which were
transformed into 17 diamonds, out of which, 13 diamonds were flawless "top
color" diamonds. The largest piece which was a "top color" diamond of 143.20
carats was however flawed, and was again re-cut to a flawless pear-shaped
diamond of 53.96 carats. Six of the "Star of Sierra Leone" diamonds were
later set by Harry Winston in the famous "Star of Sierra Leone" brooch.
Diamond industry in
Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is an independent republic in the West
African region, bordered by Guinea on the north and east and Liberia on the
South. The country was a British Colony since 1787, and became an
independent republic in 1961. The capital city of Sierra Leone is Freetown,
which derives its name from the freed slaves who were re-settled there after
the abolition of slavery by the British in 1787. The country is rich in
mineral resources such as diamond, gold , platinum, bauxite, chromite, iron
ore, rutile, and monazite. The mainstay of the economy is agriculture
followed by mining, the most important industry in terms of employment and
exports. Diamonds mined in the alluvial deposits of the country are one of
its main exports.
The diamond fields of Sierra Leone are situated in the
hilly terrain, north of the town of Kenema, in the southeastern and eastern
parts of the country. The area is bounded on the west by the Sewa-Bafi river
and on the east by the borders of Liberia and Guinea. The diamond fields
cover an area that constitute about one-third of the total area of the
country. The diamond fields are mainly concentrated in the Kono, Kenema and
Bo districts, and are situated in the drainage basins of Sewa, Bafi, Mano,
Woa and Moa rivers.
Alluvial diamonds were first discovered in Sierra Leone
in January 1930, by two Geologists of the Sierra Leone Geological Survey N.
R. Junner and J. D. Pollet. A company by the name of Sierra Leone Selection
Trust (SLST) acquired a diamond prospecting lease for the whole country, and
commenced alluvial diamond mining in the Kono area in 1934, and annual
production reached one million carats by 1937. In 1954 the company started
mining in the Tongo area. In 1970, the Government of Sierra Leone
established the Diamond Mining Company known as Diminco, which acquired a 51
% interest in the assets of the SLST. Peak annual output from the two fields
in the Kono and Tongo areas exceeded one million carats in the 1960s and
1970s, but declined steadily to less than 100,000 carats by mid-1980s. Large
scale illicit mining and smuggling of diamonds began after the country
gained independence in 1961.
Kimberlite diamond pipes were first discovered in Sierra
Leone in 1948 in the Koidu (Kono) area and later in the Tongo area. Studies
conducted by diamond mining companies like the Koidu Holdings Ltd. and the
Rex Diamond Mining Corporation have revealed the existence of substantial
quantities of diamonds up to a depth of about 300 meters. Koidu Holdings
Ltd. started trial mining and bulk sampling programs at the Kimberlite pipe
in Koidu, producing an initial output of 18,000 carats, and the company has
been given a license to exploit the other Kimberlite pipe at Tongo.
Sierra Leone was engulfed in a civil war between the
Government and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, between 1991 and
2002, that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and the displacement
of over two million people, who fled to the neighboring countries as
refugees. The civil war destroyed much of the economy and infrastructure of
the country. The rebel forces that controlled the diamond producing areas of
the country, were diverting the diamonds produced to the international
markets, through Charles Taylor's Liberia, and used the funds acquired to
purchase weapons, to sustain the civil war against the government. The
situation became so critical that the United Nations had to step in and
impose a ban on the sale of diamonds originating from Sierra Leone and
Liberia, which were referred to as "blood diamonds."
On the initiative of the United Nations all stakeholders
in the international diamond industry which included the international
diamond mining companies, international diamond dealers, the Central Selling
Organization that controls the international diamond trade, diamond
producing countries, diamond processing companies, and Non-Governmental
Organizations, have been brought together, to formulate a policy on the
orderly marketing of diamonds, known as the Kimberley Process. The main
objective of the Kimberley Process is to exclude "conflict diamonds" or
"blood diamonds" from the legitimate international diamond market, in order
to prevent the financing of war through the sale of such diamonds. Blood
diamonds have been implicated in the civil wars of many diamond producing
African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Angola and the Congo. Under
this arrangement legitimate diamonds are provided with certificates of
origin known as the Kimberley Certificate, which has to accompany the
diamonds from the time of production until it reaches the end users of the
diamonds. No diamonds could be exported from one country to another without
an accompanying Kimberley certificate.
After the official ending of the civil war in Sierra
Leone in January 2002, and the disarming of the RUF rebels and the Civil
Defense Forces, elections were held in May 2002, and the legitimate
government of Sierra Leone had been able to re-establish its authority. In
June 2003, the United nations lifted the ban on the sale of Sierra Leone
diamonds, and the government of President Tijjan Kabbah, embraced the
Kimberley Process, leading to increased investment in the diamond mining
sector. Since the introduction of the Kimberley process, the export of
legally mined diamonds increased rapidly from $ 10 million in year 2000, to
$ 76 million in 2003, $ 127 million in 2004, and $ 140 million in 2005.
It appears that since the discovery of diamonds in Sierra
Leone in January 1930, for the first time the benefits accruing from this
valuable natural resource are beginning to reach the impoverished masses of
this poor African nation.
