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The last known time when diamonds
came to the surface was about 40 million years ago in East
Africa. The youngest diamonds known are 1 million years old
and many are over 3 million years old! Noone knows how much carbon has been
turned to diamond deep down in the center of the earth, but
we know that only a very small percent of it was lucky
enough to be brought up by a volcanic eruption. The small
amount that is brought up is in little pieces, and each
piece has approximately 5 tons of dirt & rock around it.
All volcanic eruptions do not bring up diamonds, as only 1 %
of all the volcanic eruptions are actually found to be
economical for producing diamonds. An old volcano which contains
kimberlite
, and therefore might contain diamonds, costs $400 million
to set up. The diamond mine will last about 20 years, and
employ about 750 people. These workers will treat about 3.3
million tons of dirt, and should find about 4 million
carats
of diamonds a year.