Kona Point

Ever seen the Pink Panther movies? Sure you have. I loved the cartoon show too.

Well the Pink Panther is a fictional rare pink diamond In the movie which reflects the image of a panther from within. Pink diamonds are indeed extremely rare and substantially more valuable than their white diamond equivalent. Although you may not spot a panther in its brilliant shine, there are examples of equivalent sized pink diamonds to that of the mythical legend.

In 2013, the real Pink Panther diamond, The Pink Star went under the hammer for $83million (£52million). Oval-shaped and mounted on a ring, the flawless diamond weighs in at 59.60 carats and measures 2.69cm by 2.06cm.

In 2012, a "remarkable" 12.76 carat pink diamond was unearthed in Australia. Named the Argyle Pink Jubilee, the huge rough stone was found here in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It had taken 26 years of Argyle production to unearth this stone.

The Argyle pipe is 500 metre deep and long and the largest vein of diamond on the planet.

So why is all this diamond information relevant? We are in Argyle country, the home to the largest pink diamond mining production in our he world.

Kununurra is the main township and sits close to Argyle. The Argyle Mine startes In 1979 and supplies approximately 90% of the world’s pink diamonds and is the only reliable source of intense pink diamonds.

To understand how rare the pink diamond is, we visit Kimberley Fine Diamonds in Kununurra town centre. They have diamonds, jewellery and fine home wear on sale. Argyle diamonds are rare beyond rare. In fact, less than one tenth of 1% of Argyle diamond production is pink. A whole year’s worth of production of pink stones, over half a carat would fit in the palm of your hand.

Jen is interested so we browse the shop and find a selection of tiny pink diamonds for sale. Andrew has a glass cutter for the cabinet and I am a keen runner so we at least have a mission and a plan to get our hands on a pinky. Besides, it’s also Anne’s birthday today. The smallest diamond is a brilliant round pink diamond which seems not much bigger than a grain of sugar and has a $9,000 price tag. The most expensive one I could find was for $446,000, an emerald shaped pink diamond and even that was quite tiny.

Jen spots something in the shop that she likes and buys it on impulse and comes out of the shop smiling with a small Kimberley Diamonds bag in her hand. My heart jumps a beat for a second... until Jen reveals a miniature wooden sculptured camel for the exclusive price tag of... $9.95. Whew I say, the drinks are on me tonight then!

When it comes to the Argyle diamond shop which is set in the heart of a local and poor Aboriginal community, the word incongruent comes to mind. There’s millions of dollars of pink diamonds sitting in a fancy shop on the inside of a door, mined from sacred lands whilst on the outside, but two metres away, the Aboriginal folk are hanging around with seemingly nothing to do and little or no money to live on.

I much preferred the pink Lambourghini in the cartoon version of The Pink Panther anyway. It is estimated that the Argyle Mines will run out of pink diamond sources in a few years as finding these rare stones becomes uneconomical.

As mentioned, It’s Anne’s birthday today so Andrew has booked us all in at The Pump House restaurant overlooking the Ord River. In the distance, the Australian Girls Choir are rehearsing on an outdoor stage for a performance tomorrow and they are singing “I still call Australia home”.

The restaurant is quirky as it still holds all the old pump house machines and pumps and the food is outstanding. Not normally my choice for dining out, I choose the 7 hour cooked lamb which melted in my mouth. Andrew has a tasty and glamorous corned beef whilst the birthday girl, Anne, and Jen have the beef medium rare.

The whole meal cost us exactly $446,000.Read more