Imagine waking up one morning and finding precious minerals around your home. The moment you feel like you have gotten a golden chance that will change your life forever, only to realize that it is not yet the right time. This is a story about a village in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Frustration as SA’s discovered gems is quartz and not diamonds.
The story of KwaHlathi village
A cattle herder first uncovered the stones in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It prompted several people to rush to the village, which is more than 250km South-East of Joburg. After geologists conducted tests on the stones, they found out that the stones were quartz crystals and not diamonds. Quartz crystals are far less valuable compared to diamonds.
A local authority statement confirmed that:
“The tests conducted conclusively showed that the stones discovered in the area weren’t diamonds.”
Brief Description of Quartz and Diamond minerals
Quartz is a silica-based mineral that is hard and crystalline. The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each O2 shared between 2 tetrahedra, giving SiO2 as the overall chemical formula. After feldspar, quartz is the second most abundant mineral in the Earth’s crust. The two types of quartz are normal -quartz and high-temperature -quartz.At 573 °C (846 K; 1,063 °F), the transition from -quartz to -quartz occurs abruptly.
Quartz minerals come in a variety of colors and shapes, some of which are semi-precious gemstones. People have used quartz minerals in the creation of jewelry and hardstone carvings since antiquity, especially in Eurasia. Quartz is a mineral with a hardness value of seven on the Mohs scale.
A diamond is a carbon-based mineral.It’s the most popular gemstone and the hardest naturally occurring substance known. Diamonds have a variety of vital industrial applications due to their hardness.
State of communities in KwaHlathi Village
According to statistics, this region is one of the poorest in South Africa. The frustration of them not finding diamonds is real since the communities there are trying every possible way to escape from poverty. Looking at South Africa, there is economic inequality and the rate of unemployment has increased since the pandemic hit the country. South Africa has reported more cases than any other state on the African continent, with over 1.8 million confirmed infections and nearly 60,000 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
What exactly is the Council for Geoscience?
The Council for Geoscience promises to conduct further studies to find out if there are other minerals around. If the process turns out to be positive, there will be the creation of jobs in the region, which will improve the standards of living for the people in that region, hence, escaping from poverty.
What does the government say?
The South African government has pleaded with people to stop digging as illegal mining practices destroy the environment. Examples of negative effects of mining on the environment include soil erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, and the contamination of groundwater and soil by the emission of chemicals from the mining process.
MORE:
- Top 9 Foods in Pregnancy for a Happy Tummy and Mommy
- Infringement of International Law at Tigray Refugee Camps
