Mike Botha is a master

diamond cutter Diamond cutting is the practice of shaping a diamond from a rough stone into a faceted gem. Cutting diamonds requires specialized knowledge, tools, equipment, and techniques because of its extreme difficulty. The first guild of diamond cutters and ...

, with more than five decades in the profession. His training and subsequent career began in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and has led him to

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and from

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

to the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

Biography

Michiel Josias "Mike" Botha (born 1947) is engaged in diamond design, cutting and polishing in North America. Trained under David du Plessis, he received his cross-working apprenticeship diploma in 1970 in

. He has also worked as the occupational certification officer for the diamond industry in the

under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and was also the technical consultant for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment for their Government Diamond Certification Program. Botha led the Diamond Training Program at

Aurora College Aurora College, formerly Arctic College, is a college located in the Northwest Territories, Canada with campuses in Inuvik, Fort Smith and Yellowknife. They have learning centres in 23 communities in the NWT. The head office for Aurora Colleg ...

Yellowknife Yellowknife (; Dogrib: ) is the capital, largest community, and only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the ...

. During his six-year tenure with

, he developed and delivered programs, earning the college the Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education. Mike Botha established Embee Diamond Technologies 1998, a diamond design, polishing and finishing source in Canada. Embee Diamond Technologies operates a diamond cutting and polishing atelier in

Prince Albert, SK Prince Albert is the third-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada, after Saskatoon and Regina. It is situated near the centre of the province on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River. The city is known as the "Gateway to the North" because ...

.. Botha has cut and polished large diamonds including one of the diamonds in the

Premier Rose Diamond The Premier Rose Diamond () was one of the large rare gems produced by Premier Mine, of De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and indus ...

collection- the Premier (baby) Rose diamond, weighing in its rough state along with

Willem Joubert Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, ...

. Most recently, he has been commissioned to cut the 8.52ct

Esperanza Diamond Crater of Diamonds State Park is a Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing site accessible to the public. Diamonds have continuou ...

discovered at the

Crater of Diamonds State Park Crater of Diamonds State Park is a List of Arkansas state parks, Arkansas state park in Pike County, Arkansas, Pike County, Arkansas, in the United States. The park features a 37.5-acre (15.2 ha) plowed field, the world's only diamond-bearing sit ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

to the custom-designed 4.605ct Esperanza Triolette, designed by Botha. In 1998, Botha was asked to cut several large diamonds for Diagem International including two diamonds and one diamond. These are the largest gems ever cut and polished in Canada to date. In January 2012, Mike Botha was presented with an Award of Merit, the city of Prince Albert's highest honour from mayor Jim Scarrow. Mike has designed numerous diamonds including Sirius Star®...the world's brightest diamond® which is licensed to

Dharmanandan Diamonds Dharmanandan Diamonds (also known as DDPL) is an Indian diamond manufacturing company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India and has manufacturing facility in Surat, Gujarat, India, that manufactures diamonds and jewelry. History In the ...

. More recently, he co-invented the Floeting Diamond with Ian Douglas

Personal

He married Susanna in 1970, and they have a daughter, Myra and a son, Evert.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Mike Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Diamond cutting