George is one of 20 new cutters at Sirius, a beneficiary of the territorial government's insistence on some secondary industry developing from the Ekati mine. George had lived in the territories for five years and was a cook at the Ekati mine when he decided to get in at the start of the new industry. That opinion is shared by Peter Finnemore, the genial South African by way of Belgium who runs the Sirius factory. If we could get an industry on the go here, it would be very nice. If Sirius diamonds are a hit in the market, it will be largely thanks to Finnemore's eye.
Rough diamonds are shiny, angular bits of crystal up to about one-third the size of a sugar cube.
Finnemore peers into each stone that comes into the factory and decides how the cutters can get the most value out of it. It just goes into the air. The flat side of the remainder becomes the top of the finished gem as the facets are carefully ground into it on spinning metal disks that look like oversized turntables. All the cutting and grinding is done with a mix of glue and diamond dust. The scene of cutters intent over their grinders and mechanical arms holding the gems gives an old-fashioned air to Sirius's shop floor despite its bright lights and windows.