The government of South Africa has announced that tests conducted by geoscientists and mining experts have revealed the gemstones found at KwaZulu-Natal province believed to be diamond are just quartz.
“The tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds In fact, what has been discovered are quartz crystals,” it said, noting that the yet-to-determined value of the stones would be “very low” compared with diamonds,” said the govt in a statement.
Diamond zone
The tests were conducted herd man dug up the first stone on an open field, believed to be quartz crystals. The gemstone sparked a diamond rush to eastern South Africa More than 1,000 fortune seekers joined villagers who have been digging at the site since to find riches. Some people had already started selling the stones, with a starting price of US $7.29.
The report said the site, more than 300km (186 miles) southeast of Johannesburg sat near a sill of volcanic rock named dolerite “which is not in a zone where diamond occurrences are present”. It added that quartz crystals were common across a sedimentary basin known as the Karoo Supergroup, which stretches over the site, and particularly abundant along dolerite sills.
