Hamdi Ali, a high-school student from Canada has discovered a new way to extract diamonds from kimberlite rocks, according to recent media reports. While conducting summer research at the University of Alberta, she found that using a SELFRAG machine on the kimberlite rocks enabled recovery of diamonds that would have been crushed if established extraction methods had been used.

Ali’s research was conducted under University researchers, Graham Pearson and Margo Regier, the former well known for his path breaking studies of super-deep diamonds and water in Earth’s mantle, the reports state.

The findings have been presented before industry experts, including a team of De Beers Group Exploration employees, who coincidentally visited the campus soon after Ali made the discovery, it was reported. The company supports diamond related research conducted by the university.

Subsequently, Ali supported by the Univ staff, also presented her findings at the Yellowknife Geoscience Forum, a three-day event focusing on the latest in geoscience in a province with an active mining and diamond industry. The presentation was attended by representatives of different mining companies.

According to the media reports, the SELFRAG technology which Ali applied to the kimberlite uses high-voltage pulses of electricity, up to 200,000 volts. Initially, she X-rayed a piece of kimberlite to establish it contained diamonds and then split it in two. One part was crushed using established crushers that function with mechanical vibrating plates, the other part was crushed with the SELFRAG tech.

Ali discovered that while no diamonds were recovered from the first part, multiple rough diamonds were extracted when was used. The study was repeated a number of times with similar results, indicating that the new method could possibly discover diamonds more reliably and also extract them in better quality.

Talking about the implications of the discovery senior Univ researcher Regier was quoted as saying, “Maximizing diamond recovery is essential for producing a responsible and sustainable mine. We realized that this was an important result that could have large impacts for industry.”

Pic caption: Hamdi Ali seen at the Yellowknife Geoscience Forum with senior Univ researchers Graham Pearson (L) and Margo Regier (centre).

Pic courtesy: University of Alberta