Mike Botha

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike Botha is a master diamond cutter, with more than five decades in the profession. His training and subsequent career began in South Africa and has led him to Mauritius, Russia and Canada and from Vancouver to the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan.

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 South Africa. He has also worked as the occupational certification officer for the diamond industry in the Northwest Territories 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 in Yellowknife. During his six-year tenure with Aurora College, he developed and delivered programs, earning the college the Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education.[1]

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..

Botha has cut and polished large diamonds including one of the diamonds in the Premier Rose Diamond collection- the Premier (baby) Rose diamond, weighing 353.9 carats (70.78 g) in its rough state along with . Most recently, he has been commissioned to cut the 8.52ct Esperanza Diamond discovered at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas to the custom-designed 4.605ct Esperanza Triolette, designed by Botha.[2][3][4]

Esperanza Triolette Pendant

In 1998, Botha was asked to cut several large diamonds for Diagem International including two 100-carat (20 g) diamonds and one 314-carat (62.8 g) 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. [5]

Mike has designed numerous diamonds including Sirius Star®[6]...the world's brightest diamond®[7] which is licensed to Dharmanandan Diamonds.[8] More recently, he co-invented the Floeting Diamond with Ian Douglas[9][10][11][12]

Personal[]

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

References[]

  1. ^ Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education as featured in the Globe & Mail Technology https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/article952471.ece
  2. ^ "Canada's Embee Diamonds to cut 'Crater' diamond". 26 August 2015.
  3. ^ KSLA Staff. "Large diamond found at Arkansas's Crater of Diamonds State Park". Archived from the original on 2015-06-28. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  4. ^ "Longmont woman finds hefty gem at Arkansas park". 26 June 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-27.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2013-09-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Sirius Star®
  7. ^ the world's brightest diamond®
  8. ^ Dharmanandan Diamonds
  9. ^ Floeting® Diamond
  10. ^ https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolbesler/2021/12/07/floeting-rings-bring-out-the-glare-in-a-diamond-with-revolutionary-setting-technique/?sh=23354dd78b2d
  11. ^ https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/10256/Jeweller-has-major-breakthrough-with-floating-diamond-invention
  12. ^ https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/127122872/village-goldsmith-invents-floating-diamond-eyes-a-glittering-prize
Retrieved from ""