Argyle: The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds

Description

This is the story of the intrepid Australian geologists who discovered pink diamonds in the Kimberley. The remote Kimberley region of Western Australia has a rich history and unique geography. In the 1960s De Beers, the world's largest diamond company, sent gem-hunters to the area but they came away empty-handed. It was a vast region to survey, and they'd overlooked something vital. A few years later, a team of Australian geologists with a tiny budget searched for even tinier mineral clues. Those clues led them to the earth's largest diamond deposit and the world's richest source of rare pink diamonds. Based on in-depth research and interviews - including with Alan King Jones, Bill Leslie and 'the father of Australian diamonds', Ewen Tyler - Argyle- The Impossible Story of Australian Diamonds details the almost overwhelming challenges with realising a diamond mining venture in Australia, shows how these obstacles were overcome, and explores the mine's impact and legacy.

Historian Stuart Kells has twice won the Ashurst Business Literature Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister's Literary Award, the NSW Premier's General History Prize (twice) and the University of Queensland Non-Fiction Book Award. Kells' shorter pieces have appeared in The Paris Review, The Times, Lapham's Quarterly, Smithsonian, The Guardian, National Geographic Traveller and The Daily Beast. He is Adjunct Professor at La Trobe University's College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce.

Fascinating and lucid . a valuable insight into an industry once widely praised but now undervalued by a nation that relies on it so strongly." - Geoffrey Blainey