Rough Uncut Diamond Shapes

The traditional shape of a perfectly formed diamond crystal is similar to two pyramids, stuck together at their bases. That is, take a four sided regular pyramid as we see in Egypt and join another one on the bottom, so you have the two points aiming away from eachother. The name of this shape is Octohedron.

Some carbon crystals form into 'round-like shapes.' These crystalline shapes are 12 sided roundish spheres, called Dodecahedrons. In your pan or sluice box, they will look just like pebbles, but will have shiny flat spots.

Cube (or sort of cube like)

These rough diamond square shaped stones are like finding tiny dice in your concentrates. Cubes are actually quite rare in compressed carbon land. It takes some special circumstances for these cubes to form.

They are very distinct
Easy to spot
Unfortunately, they usually don't offer the best gemstone quality, even when you do find them.

 Rhombic dodecahedron 

(who thinks up these names?)

Picture a twelve sided ball, with another twelve sided ball inside that. Then poke in some triangle shapes from the outside....
It looks like a ball with flat spots and is a lot like the dodecahedron, but rounder.

Now that you've digested all these shapes, please keep in mind that there are variations as well. We're not even talking about half formed crystals, or how impurities can change a natural shape as the stone forms. It's their trip to the surface of the earth in molten magma (kimberlite pipes).

More information available in our "Where to Find & Mine Diamonds" info package.

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