Bet you didn't know

• Most diamonds are used to make abrasives and drill bits.

• California has diamonds.

• Diamonds fall in two age groups: 3.3 billion years and 1.6-1.0 billion years. The magmas that carry them to the surface can be much younger.

• The first diamond found in South Africa weighed 21 carats!

• Mining for diamonds in one pipe at Kimberley went to a depth of 3,500 feet below the surface.

• Gold particles have formed from volcanic gases at Mount Erebus!

• The average person will use about 350 kg of zinc, 350 kg of lead and 650 kg of copper during a lifetime.

• Our term for copper is based on the Latin name for the island of Cyprus-cuprum. Mining is no longer economically important on the island.

• Armalcolite ((Mg, Fe)Ti2O5), a mineral named in honor of the Apollo 11 astronauts Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins and first identified in lunar samples, has been found in the rocks at the Argyle diamond pipe. The mineral probably formed in metasomatised mantle peridotite.

• Mining in Australia uses only 0.02% of the land, less than all the hotel car parks in the country.