Purple prize: Colourful diamond surprise in Canada

Rio Tinto has announced the discovery of an extremely rare fancy colour diamond in Canada.

<p>In a social media post, the diamond producer announced the recovery of a 0.45 carat fancy colour purple diamond at the Diavik Mine in Canada.</p><p>“Diavik diamonds are typically white, so this came as a surprise,” the post explained.</p><p>“The purple colour likely comes from a trace element such as hydrogen or a twist in the crystal lattice structure of the diamond.</p><p>“The shape of the rough diamond is known as a ‘makeable’, which means it will likely be cut into a single diamond.”</p><p>The announcement comes following the unearthing of a rare 158-carat fancy colour <a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14007/Eye-catching-yellow-diamond-discovery" target="_blank">yellow diamond</a> at the same site in April.</p><p>The Diavik Mine is expected to close next year and generally produces white diamonds, with fewer than 1 per cent consisting of yellow fancy colour diamonds. Other notable stones include a 552-carat yellow diamond in 2018 and the 187-carat <em>Diavik Foxfire</em> in 2015.</p><p><strong>More reading</strong><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14136/Mediterranean-Blue-33-million-return-for-beautiful-blue-diamond" target="_blank">Mediterranean Blue: $33 million return for beautiful blue diamond</a><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14130/Record-breaking-diamond-unearthed-in-Russia" target="_blank">Record-breaking diamond unearthed in Russia</a><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article2/14023/Pink-Diamonds-The-Thief-of-Hearts" target="_blank">Pink Diamonds: The Thief of Hearts</a><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14013/New-Sun-Massive-yellow-diamond-unveiled" target="_blank">New Sun: Massive yellow diamond unveiled</a><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14009/Harry-Winstons-rare-red-diamond-stuns-visitors" target="_blank">Harry Winston’s rare red diamond stuns visitors</a><br /><a href="https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/14007/Eye-catching-yellow-diamond-discovery" target="_blank">Eye-catching yellow diamond discovery</a></p><p> </p&gt