The hopes of thousands who rushed to a rural South African village last week in search of diamonds. According to Afro World News correspondent, the diamond rush started when a herder found an unidentified stone in a field near the village of KwaHlathi, about 186 miles east of Johannesburg, and tipped off others.

Thousands of people traveled to the village to dig for stones themselves, prompting the government to send experts to take samples for testing, ABC Australia reported.

At a media briefing on Sunday, Ravi Pillay, provincial executive council member for economic development and tourism, said that the stones found there was only quartz.

“The tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds as some had hoped,” he said, according to Reuters.

“The value, if any, of the quartz crystals is yet to be established but it must be mentioned that the value of quartz crystals is very low compared to that of diamonds.”

Quartz is second only to feldspar as one of the most abundant minerals on earth.

AFRO WORLD NEWS