WHAT GOOD ARE DIAMONDS?
If you find a blue-gray stone on the beach, it could be more than just a
pretty pebble. It could be a diamond.
But you’d have a better chance of finding a diamond in Africa, because
that’s where most diamonds come from. Miners dig for diamonds in rock
called blue ground. They find this rock underground in or near old
volcanoes. Sometimes they have to dig up four carloads of blue ground to
find one diamond. That’s why diamonds are so valuable—they’re hard to
find.
Diamonds are sorted according to size and what they will be used for.
A worker searches for diamonds in a diamond mine in South Africa.
You may think of a diamond as a jewel that someone wears in a ring, but
some people work with machines and tools that use diamonds. A diamond
can cut, grind, and bore holes through tough metals and rocks because it
is the hardest substance ever found in nature. Steelworkers, miners, and
even dentists use tools that have diamonds. You may use a diamond needle
to play your phonograph records.
A few of the world’s diamonds come from India and South America, but
chances are the ones you see or use came from the mines in Africa.
