Diamonds Are Forever At Taupo

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30856, 15 September 1965, Page 20

Diamonds Are Forever At Taupo

"The Press" Special Service TAUPO, Sept. 14.

Diamonds are not just a girl’s best friend and no-one knows this better than Mr R. S. Peatfield, of Taupo. He is manager of a firm which each month handles 50,000 diamonds—and none ends up bedecking pretty girls. They are industrial diamonds and the firm, New Zealand Diamond Tools, Ltd, is the only one in the country making diamond drilling and cutting tools. Imported from African mines, the diamonds used are all shapes, sizes and colours —and none looks the least bit like a precious stone. Yet the diamonds are as genuine as the Crown Jewels. The only difference is that they have not been cut and polished and for some reason, such as a flaw in colouring, have been selected for industrial use.

Five years ago a Taupo drilling firm found difficulty in replacing some of its tools. It decided to make its own. The firm had the necessary contacts overseas and was able to use their knowledge in manufacturing diamond drilling implements. The business has since greatly expanded, says the managing director, Mr R. A. MacMillan. It now serves many contracting and manufacturing industries in New Zealand.

Mr MacMillan says the firm is saving New Zealand between £35,000 and £40,000 each year in overseas ex-

change and this is likely to increase. Fifteen trained technicians are employed at the factory making tools for a variety of jobs. As diamonds are the hardest substance in the world, these tools can slice through granite, concrete or steel. With normal wear and tear the tools may come back to the factory for resetting. The same diamond can be reset as many as 10 times, using electrolytic extraction—the reverse process of electroplating.