Chapter 951 Zulu (1/2)

The diamond processing was very troublesome and the screening process was complex.

Li Du went into the workshop to have a look. The workers had sharp eyes. The raw diamonds that were selected for cutting and grinding into jewelry could not have a crack or any kind of impurity.

The workers were the backbone of a diamond mine, and each was treated well and respected by the mine's owners, who had a good relationship with them.

In addition to the workers who selected the perfect rough stone, there were also some people of slightly lower status who were responsible for the selection of small diamonds and could use the mechanical screening for assistance.

A large number of raw stones were continuously sent to the operating table of the screening workers for manual selection. The defective stones would be sent to a different operating table for evaluation by another group of people.

Li Du and the others were lucky. They were just in time to see a big diamond come out of the oven. It had to be ten carats in size and was quite rare.

”How much do you think it's worth?” asked the lion hunter, staring at the diamond in delight.

A ten-carat diamond was a real luxury, and would surely end up in the hands of a star, a rich man or a powerful politician.

Li Du knew the answer to this and said, ”It's worth millions of dollars in today's market, but with Winston, it could be worth twice as much.”

The lion hunter was one of Harry Winston's partners, but not just with the Winston group.

Diamonds were a luxury that had to auctioned off to sell at a good price. Therefore, every time the lion hunter got a good diamond, he contacted several luxury companies to make an inquiry.

Upon hearing Li Du's answer, the lion hunter laughed and said, ”I don't care how you pack it. I only care how much money it could give me.”

He was experienced in the business, and very astute. He cleverly diverted the topic Li Du started. Obviously, he would not make any promises to the Winston group.

Africans believed in one thing when it came to business: that there were no permanent enemies and no permanent friends, only permanent interests.

Large diamonds were carefully packed into a safe, while ordinary small rough stones were separately packaged in a double layer of white paper.

After weighing a bag of rough stones, a skillful woman would record the condition of the stones, using a computer. This would be the identification of the rough stones, just like the abalone brand of black gold.

In the diamond trade industry, each package of such raw stones was called a ”hand” after being valued. The unit was a ”hand” and two packages were two ”hands”.

Diamonds varied in weight from 20 carats to 100 carats. Every week, the lion hunter shipped about ten ”hands” of diamonds around the world. After each ”hand” was bought, the jeweler would send it to Antwerp, Tel Aviv or India, where it would be cut into finished diamonds for further processing.

This was a business process that Li Du didn't need to know about. That was Cole's job.

The lion hunter brought Li Du to the mine that day because it was Friday. Every Friday, his mine would ship out diamonds.

In the afternoon, an armored truck arrived at the mine to transport the diamonds.

The lion hunter opened the wide armored truck to show Li Du that the strong body of the car was made of iron cages. The cages were welded tightly and filled with packs of diamonds.