Diamond Mining for Dummies
Pork knockers once referred to miners who would pack a shovel or spade and set off into the wilderness for months on end, looking for that elusive diamond in the rough. Food would mainly comprise of salted pork leading to the name – pork knocker. The original bunch pork-knockers are now a dying breed. They’ve been replaced by a new generation who now rely on technological advances to get the job done. Don’t lost hope yet. 6 simple steps stand between you and more riches than you could ever imagine.
Step 1: Pick a Spot
This is the make or break moment for most diamond miners. Choose a wrong spot and you’re out of business. Diamonds are formed by high pressure acting on carbon over millions of years. For this reason, they’re usually found deep under the surface of the earth. Erupting volcanoes are good at spewing out diamonds but have been known to melt them into graphite in the process. Rivers are troublemakers as well. They erode rocks and deposit diamonds along their banks. Isolated forests along the banks of the Essequibo river are the best for diamond mining in Guyana. It means no one’s ever been there before and no one’s ever going to drop by unannounced, asking for your permit.
Step 2: Clear Everything and Start Digging
Rainforests, as can be expected are not ideal especially when they’re seated right over your mine. Get rid of them. Start digging through the topsoil until you get to the rocky layer below the sand. 10m under should be a perfect place to start.
Step 3 (optional): Hire Minions
If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you’ll have to get yourself a crew. Tempt them with a percentage of the spoils and you’ll have tons of people begging to be a part of your team. Kids drop out of school for opportunities like these. A dining tent and a sleeping tent and that’s all they’ll ever need. Be warned though, adult supervision is required at all times.
Step 4: Get a Machine
For a few million Guyanese Dollars (10,000 USD) you’ll be able to get your hands on a state of the art, home made, diamond-excavating pump. The logic is flawless. Pulverize the rocks with high-pressure jets of water and sit back while your machine does the rest and pumps the water and gravel mixture to your filtration unit.
Step 5: Don’t Throw Away the Diamonds
Diamonds are heavier than all other rocks. And your filtration unit knows this all too well. The gravel and water mixture is filtered and heavy rocks are collected while the rest is pumped into a man made pond. Water from this pond is then re-used for the high-pressure jets in step 4.
Step 6: Rum, Women & Song
Rum, women and song are synonymous with miners. Guyana isn’t the exception. Once you’ve managed to sort the diamonds from the rubble, you’ll have a decent little pile of money to fund all your bad habits.
Happy mining!!
| The Natural vs. Fake Debate
It would be criminal to ignore this long-standing feud between the ‘classical’ and the ‘romantic’ approaches to selecting a diamond. I’m going to side with the classical view and go for synthetic lab manufactured diamonds for the following reasons
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