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Diamonds in South Africa - 23rd June 2021

Crowds have come to the South African village KwaHlathi. They hope to find diamonds.

A cowman discovered some rocks which look like diamonds.

Many locals are unemployed, so they would like to make money from diamonds, but these rocks might not be diamonds.

Mduduzi Maphumulo thinks he’s found a diamond.

Mduduzi Maphumulo: "I heard that people are digging diamonds here, so I said, you know, let me come and take a try – only to find that I was going to find one. Here's it, I'm holding it, here and it's like a pyramid. As you can see, it's for real. Something real – I just got it here on the floor. I didn't even have to dig that much to get it."

Everyone knows that South Africa is a good place to find diamonds. The most famous diamond is the Cullinan diamond, which is part of the British Queen’s crown.

But these rocks could be quartz, not diamonds.

Hlengiwe Mlambo is waiting to know more about the rocks.

Hlengiwe Mlambo: "The, there might be a probability of diamonds, 'cause it's close to a river and we're finding stones like this, but ja. At the moment, I think everyone is finding quartz, because – obviously crystals like this have a certain heat rey, radia to them. So, we don't have a reader – at the moment. So ja, we’re waiting for that and then we’ll know indefinitely."

The South African government is asking people to go home but they are still here. It has sent rock specialists to collect rocks for study.