An incredibly rare gemstone has been unearthed in India - a “diamond within a diamond”.
VD Global, based in Surat, found the 0.329-carat stone in the rough in October last year and have named it "Beating Heart".
The stone consists of a piece of diamond with a smaller freely-moving piece trapped inside, according to the Times of India.
The diamond manufacturer, which operates from Surat and Mumbai, reportedly sent the stone for further analysis, which confirmed its authenticity, reports the Independent.
"I have certainly never seen anything like the ‘Beating Heart’ during my last 30 years in the diamond sector,” Samantha Sibley, Technical Educator at De Beers Group Ignite said.
“Using the expertise of De Beers Group, we can shed light onto the formation and structure of this natural specimen and share these insights with a wider community of diamond professionals,” Ms Sibley added.
The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) set up by the Indian government said in a statement that the “Beating Heart” joins a small group of similar natural diamonds such as the Matryoshka diamond from Siberia, which was first recorded in 2019.
The stone will not be cut and polished and will instead be maintained for research and educational purposes.
The Matryoshka diamond, thought to be over 800 million years old, was unearthed in Siberia in 2019. The "priceless" jewel weighs just 0.62 carats and is the first diamond of that nature to ever be found.
Inside, a tiny nested diamond moves freely and has an estimated weight of 0.02 carats. No value was put on the one-of-a-kind discovery but experts described it as "priceless".
In a statement seemingly explaining the Beating Heart's formation, De Beers Group said: "Initial conclusions suggest the cavity was formed due to preferential etching of an intermediate layer of poor-quality fibrous diamond.
"The original ‘core’ would have consisted of good-quality diamond growth. However, a subsequent layer of growth was likely poor and fibrous, followed by a further ‘outer coating’ of gem-quality crystal.
"At some point between its formation and travel to the surface of the Earth, the poor-quality layer etched away. Only the better quality material ‘survived’ this process – the outer diamond and the core – which, in this case, led to a diamond that can freely move around within an inner space."
Jamie Clark, Head of Global Operations at De Beers Institute of Diamonds, added: “The ‘Beating Heart’ is a remarkable example of what can happen on the natural diamond journey from formation to discovery.
"We would like to thank VD Global for recognising this diamond's potential and acknowledging its educational and scientific potential. A find like this demonstrates why natural diamond formation and origin is such a fascinating area of study and why it is important to strive for advancements in testing and analysis that can contribute to our knowledge of natural diamond growth.”
