Spanish Diamonds Lures Leonardo di Caprio To Estremedura
The Spanish region of Estremedura seems an unlikely setting for one of Hollywood´s biggest stars to make a business investment but it is now firmly on the map for the blood diamond superstart to reinvent the trade.
The historic walled town of Trujillo and its Arroyo Caballo industrial estate has been chosen by the Diamond Foundry for a 30,000-square-metre warehouse to be set up for the firm whose slogan reads: “Just Diamond. No mining.”
Passionate about the environment and a keen anti-climate change activist, di Caprio has backed the company financially and through a public endorsement: ”I’m proud to invest in Diamond Foundry Inc. – sustainably growing diamonds… without human & environmental toll of mining.”
The company, valued at $1.8 billion, picked Extremadura for its year-round sun – the Diamond Foundry premises will be 100% solar-powered.
The company says that: “Using our proprietary reactor technology, we plan to produce the world’s first single-crystal diamond wafer as well as realize diamond-native transistors for applications in electric cars, satellites, renewable energy, 6G networks”.
Plasma reactors functioning 24 hours a day and a 120mW solar panel plant on the industrial estate will fuel the factory, since a zero carbon footprint was Di Caprio’s top priority when seeking out a suitable spot.
Having created a string of environmental documentary films, starting with the multiple award-winning 11th Hour – about the climate change emergency – through his production company Appian Way, named after the Roman highway that connected the Empire from Cadiz to Rome.
The new factory will create at least 300 local jobs.