In central India, a hardworking family man who found himself atop a mountain of debt also managed to find himself a 19.22-carat diamond worth almost $100,000.
“Our lives have changed forever” he joyously told CNN, having just opened his first-ever bank account in anticipation of the money forthcoming from the sale of the diamond at auction.
40-year-old Raju Gond and his younger brother Rakesh Gond from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh take home around $4 per day from digging for gold on government-leased land. When they don’t find much, they work in farmers’ fields driving tractors instead.
This uncertain work landed the older Gond in a sizable amount of debt putting food on the table for his family while renewing his prospecting lease. His luck turned down in a makeshift mineshaft, where he made a fortuitous find. With every grain of dirt removed, Gond felt an uneasy certainty grow in his throat—it must be a diamond—just look how it shines!
Raju and Rakesh jumped around and hugged in excitement before hurtling down the road across the 7 miles back home on their bike.
Next, the pair took their mother with them to the Panna Diamond Office to have the stone evaluated.
CNN spoke with the office and the Gond family about the discovery, and the way small-scale mining such as this works is that the government will allow individuals to pay around $9.50 for the rights to prospect for gemstones. Whatever is found is then evaluated and held in trust by a government office until the total value of all gemstones turned over arrives at a certain number—in the case of diamonds it’s $360,000 in estimated value.
At this point, an official auction is held. The gems are sold, the government department takes an 11.5% royalty, and the rest is given to the founder.
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As it happened, the monsoon rains washed away a lot of work opportunities, so Raju and Rakesh decided to switch from gold panning to diamond prospecting. It’s not a daily bread sort of employment, and with a large family of inlaws and 7 children to support, Raju needed a big score.
“The first thing I’ll do is pay back debt of ($6,000). Then we will invest in all children getting educated, building homes, buy some land and maybe a tractor too,” he said.
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Morning light saw the two men already on their way to the mine to look for more diamonds.
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