How rare is diamond?
Diamonds are not as rare as commonly believed, with an estimated 130 million carats (26 tonnes; 29 short tons) of rough diamond production annually, making them more common than other precious gemstones like emeralds, rubies, and tanzanite. In fact, even pure gold in its natural form is more rare than diamonds, which are made of carbon, the most abundant element on earth.
Introduction to Diamond Rarity
Diamonds are made of carbon, which is the most abundant element on earth, and are formed through a natural geological process that involves high pressure and temperature deep within the earth’s mantle. While diamonds may be the most important gemstone in history due to power, trade, and influence, they are not the rarest stones on earth.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Are diamonds rarer than gold?
Diamonds are more common than other precious gemstones like emeralds, rubies, and tanzanite, and even pure gold in its natural form is more rare than diamonds.
2. Why are diamonds so rare?
Diamonds are finite and only getting rarer, as nature will not bring anymore diamonds to the surface from the Earth’s mantle, since the volcanic activity that brought them there ended tens of millions of years ago.
3. How rare is it to find diamonds in real life?
Over the last 140 years, 7,000 kimberlite pipes (the rock in which diamonds can be found) have been sampled, and only around 1,000 of these pipes actually contain any diamonds, with only around 60 being sufficiently rich in diamonds to be economically viable.
4. Is diamond rare in the universe?
Although diamonds on Earth are rare, extraterrestrial diamonds (diamonds formed outside of Earth) are very common, with diamonds small enough to contain only about 2000 carbon atoms being abundant in meteorites and some of them formed in stars before the Solar System existed.
5. What is the rarest stone?
Painite is the rarest gemstone mineral in the world, named after its discoverer, Arthur C.D. Pain, and not after any kind of suffering.
6. What is rarer, wood or diamonds?
Wood is more rare than diamonds throughout the universe, with thousands of planets where it rains diamonds every day, like on Neptune or Uranus.
7. Is it illegal to find a diamond?
It is not illegal to find a diamond, but failure to report a found item can lead to criminal charges, and most states will allow finders to keep the property if the owner does not show up to claim it after a certain time.
8. Are diamonds rarer than emeralds?
Emeralds are more than 20 times rarer than diamonds and, therefore, often command a higher price.
9. Can I mine my own diamond?
The only diamond mine in the world where you can be the miner is at The Arkansas Diamond Mine at Crater of Diamonds State Park, where for a small fee, you can enter the mine, search all day, and keep any diamonds that you find.
10. Are rubies rarer than diamonds?
Gem-quality rubies are significantly rarer than diamonds, though there are certain types of diamonds that are very rare too, with diamonds that show color being even rarer.
11. What’s more expensive than a diamond?
There are many gems that are more valuable than diamonds, including emeralds, sapphires, rubies, garnets, and alexandrite.
12. When did diamonds stop being rare?
Until the 19th century, diamonds were rare, but by about 1870, they were at risk of becoming ordinary, with huge diamond mines discovered in South Africa, flooding the market, making the gem available, and slightly more affordable to anyone who wanted one.
13. Are diamonds bulletproof?
No, diamonds are not strong enough to stop a bullet.
14. How many diamonds are left in the world?
Worldwide reserves of diamonds are estimated at 1.3 billion carats, with some 116 million carats of diamonds estimated to have been produced from mines worldwide in 2021.
15. Are diamonds worth anything?
Diamonds, along with many other materials, do not have an intrinsic value, but this does not mean they are worthless, as the value comes from the value we assign to them as a society, with gem-quality diamonds being valuable for their beauty and rarity.