Princess, emerald, oval or marquise? these are the chic names given to the different shapes that diamonds are cut into at Floreal Diamond Cutting Ltd. This firm, which is in partnership with the South-African firm Safdico, is only four years old, but it has already expanded from 15 employees to 100.

Tucked away in Mangalkhan, this very high-tech firm deals with a variety of countries such as Australia, Belgium, Israel, South Africa and the USA. In the duty free shop found next to the factory, brands such as Graff, Efune and Marco Bicego are sold.

The rough, uncut diamonds are imported from the internationally known diamond-mining group De Beers. The greyish little pebble-like stones are first given a round shape. A worker fixes two rough diamonds at the end of rods that rub against one another. This machine is constantly monitored by cameras. The image is enlarged on big black and white screens. The two stones slowly revolve, scraping off the layers of unwanted matter that surround the precious gem.

Then, the diamond is sent to the next room, where it is placed in the centre of a machine that automatically cuts it into the desired shape. Fixed to a stand, the gem is methodically cut until it becomes a 58-facet perfect diamond. The beauty of a diamond depending on refraction of light through it, the number of facets adds to its value. In this room, where only the rasping sound of diamond cutting diamond can be heard, everything is automatic.

Next process: the polishing. Next door, rows of workers are busy polishing the stones. One person is fixing a diamond onto a complicated machine that looks like a sextant. He adjusts the angles so that the right facet is visible. Then he gently rubs it against a revolving disc covered with diamond powder. He repeats this process for the different facets until it twinkles like a little star.

Raj then verifies the dimensions of the gems. He places them one by one into a box that is connected to a camera and a computer. Using a program designed for analysing the different aspects of the gem, he checks that everything has been correctly done.

?We cut around 200 diamonds a day,? says the managing director, Edley Chimon. He has been in the diamond industry for the last 33 years and knows his business like the back of his hand. Being a perfectionist, he actually checks the whole production of the day every afternoon. Delicately holding the precious gems with fine tweezers and using an enlarging lens, he points out the difference between a pink diamond that comes only from Australia and a yellow one cut into an oval from Israel.

?Diamonds are classified according to the 4 Cs: carat, colour, clarity and cut.? Basically the carat is the weight of the gem, the colour ranges from the finest white to different tints of yellow and pink. The clarity is defects that cannot to be seen by the naked eye-tiny imperfections that Edley Chimon can detect at a glance. He makes it a point to revalorize the export processing zone, which is often talked about only when it has problems: ?You just have to look at sectors such as diamond cutting where Mauritius is considered to be among the best on an international level.? This ambitious businessman also confides that he is working on a project with the Belgian diamond cutter, Gabi Tolkowsky, to create a diamond that would be specific to Mauritius.