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THE WAR YEARS AND AFTER
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had
been made again, and this time lots of them. Some even showed sizes of
about half a millimetre. That day the classical and exulting word
'Eureka' was written in a laboratory notebook. It was soon verified by
means of X-rays that the crystals found were genuine diamonds.54
The results were announced to the world by Mr. H. F. Oppenheimer on 17 November 1959. Speaking to the Press, he then said:
The
diamonds which have been made in our laboratory consist in effect of an
abrasive grit suitable for use in resinoid-bonded grinding wheels. It
is only in this field that synthetic diamonds have so far been able to
compete. The Adamant Laboratory has not been able to manufacture other
types of industrial diamonds, and there is no question of the
manufacture of gem diamonds. Some of the diamonds that we have made
have been bonded in grinding wheels, and tests of their grinding
efficiency are now being carried out.
The
whole manufacturing process is still in the laboratory stage, but we
are confident that it would be technically and economically possible
for us to proceed to manufacture on a commercial scale if we found it
desirable to do so. Our decision in this matter will be taken in close
co-operation with the Belgian Congo diamond mining company—the Societe
Miniere du Beceka—which produces the great majority of the world's
supply of the quality of natural diamond with which the new synthetic
material is in competition, as well as all the other qualities of
industrial diamonds for which synthetic diamonds provide no substitute.
Research
work to find new and extended uses for diamond grit as an abrasive was
stimulated by the General Electric Company's discovery, and by the
increased productive capacity installed recently by the Beceka company
at their mine. This new discovery will further encourage research work
and I believe that the effect will ultimately be a greatly expanded
market in which both the natural and the synthetic product will find
their place.
Since
these words were spoken, a factory has been erected and is now engaged
in making synthetic industrial diamonds on a commercial scale. The
importance of this step, from the standpoint both of South Africa and
the world of consumers, has been enhanced by the uncertainties of the
situation in the Congo, resulting from the transfer of power there. It
is for the future to decide where the margin of advantage between the
use of synthetic and natural industrial stones will lie: with the
growth of technological knowledge that margin cannot be determined once
and for all.
54 From the article cited above.
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