- Mike Botha
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An master diamond cutter, with close to four decades in the profession, Mike Botha’s training and subsequent career began in South Africa and has led him to Mauritius, Russia and Canada – from Vancouver to the Northwest Territories to Saskatchewan.
Botha worked as the occupational certification officer for the diamond industry in the Northwest Territories under the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, and was also the technical consultant for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment for their Government Diamond Certification Program.
Botha led the Diamond Training Program at Aurora College in Yellowknife. During his six year tenure with Aurora College, he developed and delivered programs, earning the college the Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education.[1]
Incorporated by Mike Botha in Canada in 1998, Embee Diamond Technologies is an established authoritative diamond design, polishing and finishing source in Canada. Embee Diamond Technologies operates a diamond cutting and polishing atelier, wholesale loose diamonds and has plans to establish a diamond training academy for retail sales professionals and on-the-job training from its headquarters in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
He has cut and polished large diamonds including the Premier (baby) Rose diamond, weighing 353.9 carats (70.8 g) in its rough state.
In 1998, Botha was recruited to cut several large diamonds for Diagem International including two 100-carat (20 g) and one 314-carat (63 g) diamonds. These are the largest gems ever cut and polished in Canada to date.
In 2008, he relocated to Prince Albert on the promise of its diamond mining future.
He is married to Susanna and they have a daughter, Myra and a son, Evert.
References
- ^ Yves Landry Award for Outstanding Innovation in Education as featured in the Globe & Mail Technology http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/article952471.ece
Categories:- Living people
- Diamond cutting
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