Trujillo, a small town in western Spain, will be the home of a synthetic diamond factory, under construction, run by Diamond Foundry.
The North American company, which has Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, as an investor and advisor, has brought hope back to this town located in what is known as ’empty Spain’ due to rapid depopulation in recent decades.
DiCaprio is an actor, producer and environmentalist who has been romantically linked to several women over the past few months, for whom his diamonds may be a thoughtful gift.
Nothing will be finished in the factory until 2024, but local residents have already been showing up just watch the construction workers.
Many simply can’t believe new developments are happening here at all, in Extremadura, the heart of so-called ’empty Spain’.
“How many things have we been promised during the past years that have not been fulfilled?” asks José Antonio Redondo, the mayor of Trujillo.
“It has created a lot of excitement and will revitalise the town,” he tells Euronews.
In the 1950s, this municipality had more than 14,000 inhabitants. However, over the years its population has been in decline and now the number is below 9,000, according to Spain’s National Institute of Statistics.
The sunhine and the quality of local stone were enough for the North American company to invest in Trujillo.
The idea is to produce synthetic diamonds for different uses: some for jewellery and also for industrial use.
These stones can be used to produce diamond crystal chips with semiconductor properties used to manufacture mobile phones and car batteries.
Its production is 100% hydroelectric, and while a diamond deposit takes thousands of years to be able to extract real diamonds, synthetic ones can be produced in a week using solar energy.
During the negotiations, other countries such as China and the United Arab Emirates were considered instead of the Spanish village.
Two reasons helped Dicaprio’s company make up their mind: the reasonable price of renewable energy and the certainty that Spain is a stable market.
When operating at full capacity the factory will generate up to 1,000 jobs, a lifeline for a village of 9,000 inhabitants.
At the moment, the unemployment rate is “a little above average”, exceeding 10%, according to its mayor.
“We all think it’s great that the factory is being built. There are fewer and fewer people left in Trujillo each year and the options for young people are either working in catering or construction, so they are forced to leave town,” Isidro, from Trujillo, told Euronews.
For María Esther, owner of a clothing store in the village, the prospects are good. “People are very happy, waiting for the factory to be ready and to see what happens,” she says.
The initial investment is €245 million, of which €120 million have been awarded to Diamond Foundry by the Productive Industrial Investment Support Fund, part of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, to encourage regional projects.
Diamond Foundry says it is committed to investing €670 million in the Trujillo project.
DiCaprio´s latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, to be released this year is the sixth collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese.
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