In 1867, a 15-year-old boy named Erasmus Stephanus Jacobs discovered a diamond on the Orange River in Hopetown, South Africa. The diamond was coined as the first diamond discovered in the region and was given the name of “Eureka Diamond”. Since its discovery, South Africa has been mined and searched for these precious stones said to inspire the future successes of the country. Since the Kimberly Rush began in the late 1800s, South Africa emerged as having the richest diamond-producing mine in the world and later shut down in 1914.
However, long before Erasmus’ discovery, millions of years ago, when the Orange River was much larger, diamonds were washed downstream, traveling through ecological storms and other geological processes to then scatter along coastlines and on the Atlantic Ocean floor.
Ocean diamonds quickly became a commodity, attracting consumers with their rarity and unique source. Since their discovery, those eager to gather, collect, and create with these rarities began to seek out methods to extract them.
In the 1960s, ocean mining expeditions began, embarking on diamond mining vessels and extracting the diamonds from the bottom of the sea. This method faces heavy environmental scrutiny, as many scientists argue that the process negatively affects the wide variety of marine life that inhabit the waters (sharks, whales, dolphins, and more) — as well as destroying the seabed and harming the ecosystem undersea. Technologies, such as remotely operated vehicles have also been employed to reduce ecological footprint.
There are also companies, such as Ocean Diamonds that make it their mission to only hand-extract the diamonds they source, and have divers embark on missions to select and source those that survived the heaviest of storms, leaving a significantly smaller footprint behind.
So, the conversation continues on this recent phenomenon that is an ocean diamond. Breaking into a market with qualities unlike any other sourced stones, instantly amplifying their value. Those that are hand-picked feel especially unique, almost as if they were hand-selected specifically for their wearer.
In an industry currently undergoing the debate of sustainability (mined vs. lab grown diamonds), ocean diamonds add yet another layer to the conversation.
