What black diamonds are made of
True black diamonds are incredibly rare. Only one in 10,000 diamonds mined are coloured. Most coloured diamonds get their colour from chemical impurities or defects in the stone itself. Black diamonds are different: their colour comes from the presence of tiny mineral inclusions.
Recent studies have shown that these inclusions are predominantly the iron oxide minerals magnetite and haematite along with native iron itself. When these iron-rich inclusions occur in a high enough proportion they can even make diamonds magnetic.
UK based The Natural History Museum is one of the world's foremost resources for natural science, with magnificent collections and groundbreaking research expertise.
The Museum is also a Non Departmental Public Body (NDPB), sponsored by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). This allows us to operate with a reasonable degree of independence from the government, working on three-year funding agreements with predetermined objectives and levels of grant-in-aid.
The Natural History Museum
20240830145952.gif)
.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
