Since time immemorial, researchers have been trying to unlock the secrets of Australia’s critically acclaimed and rare pink diamonds that are mined from the famed Argyle Diamond Mine.
More than 95 percent of the world’s pink diamond pieces were supplied by this mine. The natural pink hue of Argyle Diamond Mine’s pieces was always a matter of curiosity among researchers but the secret to the mystery of how these diamonds got their colours in the first place was never cracked.
On that note, researchers were, however, able to come to a conclusion that the colour might be the result of the peculiar photochromic behavior of these diamonds that leads to changes in their colour – which can be considered as one step towards the direction of unlocking the secret of such diamonds.
The research
The aforementioned research was led by one Keal Byrne. He is a student of Ph.D. at the University of Western Australia, located in Perth. He and his team joined forces to study the behaviour of this famed coloured diamond. The team used narrow frequency beams of light as a means of bleaching the colour emanating from a piece of Argyle pink coloured diamond. The goal of this study conducted by this young and bright team of researchers was simple – they wanted to crack the code of the photochromic behaviour of pink-coloured diamonds.
So, why are Argyle diamonds pink-coloured?
Diamonds are made entirely out of carbon.
It is the product of carbon atoms binding together in a crystalline form after when they are being subjected to extreme temperature and pressure of the layers beneath the earth’s crust. This clump of carbon atoms does not absorb or reflect any form of light which is why pure diamond doesn’t have any colour or ability to reflect light.
Now, Argyle’s fabled pink-coloured diamonds come naturally with a rare defect. The defect is simply the missing of one or more carbon atoms in the tightly-knit crystalline structure or replacement of the missing carbon atom with another atom from another element.
These defects, in a given piece of Argyle diamond, could range from a single one to multiple. The number of defects present in each piece of Argyle Diamond leads to the intensity of the colour of a piece of pure diamond after it has been polished.
Now, researchers have been able to crack why some diamonds have yellow or blue hues. According to research, the presence of nitrogen atoms as impurities in a diamond can lead to yellow coloured diamonds. Similarly, the presence of boron atoms in a diamond as impurities can lead to the piece emanating a blue hue.
On that note, it is best to keep in mind that the reason why pink-diamonds from Argyle mine get their signature hue is still a mystery!
Hence the question, ‘why Argyle pink diamonds are pink coloured?’ remains unanswered.
Pink-coloured diamonds from Australia’s Argyle diamond mine were rare from the beginning but from this year onwards, these rare, naturally coloured diamonds will witness an increase in their respective market prices as well as demand. The reason is simple – Argyle diamond mine of Australia has closed its doors since it has exhausted all of its natural resources. On that note, in case you have been thinking about investing in these rare jewels then hurry or else they will soon be out of your reach.
