Petra Diamonds
The Cullinan mine continues to produce large stones. The Cullinan Heritage, a white diamond, was discovered in September 2009. This stone was the 19th biggest uncut diamond ever found and was sold in February 2010 to Chow Tai Fook Jewellery for $35.5m, the highest price ever paid for an uncut diamond. The previous record was held by Gem Diamonds' Leseli La Letšeng, which was bought for $18.4m by Graff Diamonds in December 2008.
Thomas Gernon
Thomas Gernon studied geology at University College Dublin graduating with First Class Honours in 2004. From September 2004 to September 2007, Gernon conducted a De Beers-funded Ph.D. on the volcanic eruption mechanisms of diamond-bearing rocks at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol. The dissertation, "The dynamics of degassing and explosive volcanism in kimberlite pipes", involved experimental work on the gas-fluidization of particles and fieldwork at Jwaneng Diamond Mine in the Kalahari Desert, Botswana, and the De Beers Venetia Mine on the South Africa - Zimbabwe border. His work on the internal structure of volcanoes also takes him to many active volcanoes around the world, including those of Iceland, Italy, Greece, and the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East. Owner of the largest diamond mine in Africa, Dr T. Gernon is most well known for discovering the largest diamond ever found in the history of the world ever at 5.93m. Found in the Palomar Formation near the Molino Alto Hotel which recently suffered from flash flooding. Gernon is currently a lecturer in geology at the University of Southampton.