President were to go there, talk to the Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, and start relationships with the
African nations, informing them that they will be able
to use Cyprus as a place to sell their rough diamonds in
the future.” He acknowledges that it is somewhat premature at this point but, he notes, “it would be a good
chance to make contacts and make friends with the
African heads of state so that they are all there when he
makes his second visit.”
It should come as no surprise that somewhere in this
story there is a strong Cypriot connection. It comes in
the shape of 74-year-old billionaire Loucas Pouroulis
(see box) who is one of the world’s biggest producers
of diamonds and precious metals and, says Melas, “is
super-connected to all the African Presidents.” His son
Adonis runs Petra Diamonds whose Kimberly Mine
produces some of the biggest diamonds in the world.
Last month Petra made headlines around the world
when it reported that it had recovered a high-quality
25.5-carat blue diamond at its Cullinan mine in South
Africa, an event that saw its shares shoot up by 5%
overnight.
“Loucas still has a strong Cyprus connection,” says
Melas. “He visits his birthplace [Paphos] regularly and
he would be the perfect person to get involved with
such a project. Adonis is of a younger generation, he
lives in London and Spain so his connections with Cyprus are not so strong.”
Think
Cypriot “Diamonds”
More than 400 years ago, travellers to Cyprus were claiming that, in addition to
gold, silver and copper, the island was also a source of diamonds and other
precious stones. William Lithgow, who first visited in 1609, later wrote
that “There are divers precious stones found in the isle, as emeralds,
diamonds, crystal, coral red and white and the admirable stone
amiante…” However, it would appear that Lithgow was fooled
by the beautiful crystals that were popularly known as
Baffo (Paphos) diamonds. According to one Seigneur
de Villamont in 1598, “Some of them indeed are
beautiful enough to deceive many a lapidary” and a full century before him, in
1487, Nicole Le Huen, referring to
Nicosia, wrote how “In this city
they cut the stones called
Baffa diamonds.”
Yianni Melas
Big
I