A plant that leads to diamond deposits

A plant that leads to diamond deposits
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Highlights

A geologist has found a rare African plant that prefers to grow on diamond-bearing kimberlite rocks. The plant, identified as Pandanus candelabrum, is the first indicator species for diamond-bearing rocks, Stephen Haggerty, researcher at Florida International University in Miami, told Science magazine.

New York: A geologist has found a rare African plant that prefers to grow on diamond-bearing kimberlite rocks. The plant, identified as Pandanus candelabrum, is the first indicator species for diamond-bearing rocks, Stephen Haggerty, researcher at Florida International University in Miami, told Science magazine.


The thorny, palm-like plant in Liberia grows on top of kimberlite pipes, columns of volcanic rock hundreds of metres across that extend deep into the Earth, left by ancient eruptions that exhumed diamonds from the mantle. The findings suggest that diamond hunters in West Africa could have a simple, powerful way of finding diamond-rich deposits.


Haggerty thinks the plant adapted to grow in the kimberlite-rich soil because it contains high levels of magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Kimberlite pipes bring the gems to the surface in eruptions that sometimes rise faster than the speed of sound. The pipes are rare.


According to Haggerty, who also works as the chief exploration officer of Youssef Diamond Mining Company which has mining interests in Liberia, of the more than 6,000 known kimberlite pipes in the world, about 600 contain diamonds -- and of these, only about 60 are rich enough in quality diamonds to be worth mining,

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