Diamonds believed to be 4.3billion years old turn out to be polishing grit used by scientists to clean crystals

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Tiny diamonds thought to be 4.3billion years old were actually remnants of polishing grit, left when zircon crystals were being prepared for laboratory testing, scientists have found.

The gemstones, found in cracks inside the crystals, were believed to have been the oldest known diamonds found in terrestrial rocks when they were first reported on in journal Nature in 2007.

However, it has now emerged that the miniscule stones were in fact a paste which had been rubbed into tiny cracks in the zircons, found in Jack Hills, western Australia, when they were cleaned for tests.