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Diamond

Diamond has very special  physical qualities, most of which originate from the strong covalent bonding between its atoms.  Excellent optical and mechanical properties, notably unparalleled hardness and durability, make diamond the most popular gemstone. It has the highest hardness and thermal conductivity of any material. Those properties determine the major industrial application of diamond in cutting and polishing tools and scientific applications.


Rough diamonds

 Links to diamond prices
Links to diamond supply and demand
BHP Billiton forecast, 2007 to 2015.

135 million carats of rough diamonds, valued at $17.8 billion, will be mined in 2014, which would represent an increase of approximately 3% over 2013 estimates.


According to De Beers total global supply of rough (uncut) diamonds will peak at 160 million carats in 2014 and fall by 30 million carats ten years later. Set against this, total consumer demand for polished diamonds is expected to rise $6bn to $31bn by 2018 and another 50% by 2025.
According to the most recent research report titled “2012 Global Diamond Industry Report” released by the global consulting firm Bain & Company, global diamond consumption is likely to record a compounded annual  growth rateDiamond News of 6%. The worldwide diamond consumption may surge by more than 60% by the end of this decade.


Minki van der Westhuizen, at the Letseng mine in Lesotho, displays four diamonds with a combined weight of 366 carats. At the time, the operating company expected them to fetch a minimum of US$6 million.

Source: JCI
Conversion: 1,00 carat = 200 milligrams = 0,2 gram
Grade is often expressed as cpht = carats per hundred tonnes




Generic picture of rough diamonds sourced from the Argyle mine, Australia.
Source: Mining Weekly

Diamond in kimberlite
Source: www.nhm.ac.uk 

Major diamond mining companies
Jwaneng Diamond Mine, Botswana

  • De Beers (established in 1888) is a privately owned company with three shareholders: Anglo American plc 45%, Central Holdings Group 40%, the Government of Botswana 15%. It produces approximately 40% of the world’s supply of rough diamonds from its mines in South Africa, and in partnership with the governments of Botswana, Namibia and Tanzania. Approximately 45% of the world’s rough diamond production (made up from diamonds from De Beers mines and those which De Beers purchases from Alrosa, the Russian state diamond mining company) are sorted and valued by the Diamond Trading Company, the sales and marketing arm of De Beers, headquartered in London. In 2005 the De Beers Group generated US$6,5 billion in revenue and US$554 million in net earnings. De Beers is projecting 14.7 million carats for 2007, with a reduction of 2 million carats in 2008 as a result of the lost volume from those operations that they are disposing of, David Noko, managing director of De Beers Consolidated Mines (DBCM) told Reuters in October, 2007. He also said the company's Voorspoed mine, situated in the Free State province, would start production in 2008, and would produce 1 million carats when in full production. De Beers sold off its loss-making Kimberley Underground mine in the Northern Cape province, which it closed in late 2005, to Petra Diamonds and has said it also intends to dispose of its Cullinan mine. De Beers is spending $100 million a year exploring the six countries in which it has focussed its search for diamonds in 2008. De Beers used to search for diamond deposits in 21 countries. De Beers found another 45 kimberlites during 2007 and will take a number of these into further evaluation. [more]
  • ALROSA Company Limited accounts for 97% of Russia’s diamond production. Its share in the global rough diamond production is 25%. It is also active in Angola. Alrosa sold more than $3 billion worth of rough and polished diamonds in 2006, compared to $2,856 billion in 2005. Alrosa has set a mining production target of $2.289 billion for 2008, including $1.764 billion by Alrosa Co. Ltd. The Russian diamond group expects to generate sales of $2.921 billion, some of it of polished diamonds. Sales by Alrosa Co. Ltd are comprised of $2.112 billion in rough diamond sales and $153.7 million polished diamond sales. The firm said it set a net profit target of RUB 10.146.5 million ($410.56 million). Sales by subsidiary Alrosa-Nyurba, which operates two diamond mines in the Sakha republic, are expected to total $655.2 million. ALROSA, spent US$215 million for all stages of exploration, almost entirely in Russia during 2014. One of the world's two largest diamond miners, ALROSA produces about 28% of the world's rough diamonds by value, and holds about a third of the world's total diamond reserves.
  • Rio Tinto mines in Australia, Canada and Zimbabwe. Rio Tinto – owner of Australia’s Argyle mine and a majority stakeholder in Canada’s Diavik and Murowa in Zimbabwe - is seen to be looking at becoming a key player in the diamond industry, previously controlled by De Beers, but earnings at its diamond division fell 27% to $205 million for the full year of 2006.
  • BHP Billiton mines in Canada and annual sales represent around three per cent of current world rough diamond supply by weight and six per cent by value.
  • Trans Hex Group Ltd mines in South Africa, Angola and Namibia and is involved in exploring for diamondiferous kimberlites in Liberia, where it is in a joint venture with Mano River Resources Inc. Production for the year to end-March 2007 at the South African operations fell to 116,200 carats from 130,700 carats in the previous period. In Angola, output fell to 149,000 carats from 176,000. Namibian production rose to 37,150 carats from 33,700.
  • Gem Diamonds Ltd [LSE:GEMD] mines in Australia, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Indonesia and Lesotho and is exploring in Botswana and the Central African Republic. [more]
  • SouthernEra Diamonds Inc mines in South Africa and explores in Angola and the Congo (DRC). It was announced in August, 2007, that SouthernEra Diamonds Inc. and Mwana Africa plc have entered into a support agreement under which Mwana will increase its offer to acquire all of the Class A common shares of SouthernEra other than those owned by Mwana and its affiliates. Mwana announced in September, 2007, that it owned approximately 84.2 percent of the outstanding SouthernEra Diamonds Inc. [TSX:SDM] shares after completing its offer for 148.9 million Class A common shares not already owned in the diamond mining company.
  • Petra Diamonds Ltd mines in South Africa, is near production in Sierra Leone, and has exploration operations in Angola and Botswana. Petra Diamonds announced a substantial increase in reserves and resources in South Africa on 8 Oct 2007:
    -An updated carat base of 9.33 million carats attributable (11.38 million carats gross), an increase of 101% on previous statement (May 2005: 4.64 million carats attributable)
    -In-situ value of US$1.5 billion attributable (US$1.9 billion gross)
    -JORC compliant attributable reserves increase 66% to 2.95 million carats (May 2005: 1.77m carats)
    -JORC compliant attributable resources increase 123% to 6.38 million carats (May 2005: 2.86m carats)
    -Increase due to the acquisition of Koffiefontein and additional kimberlite fissure units included in the total mineral resource. By February, 2008, Petra owned six diamond mines in South Africa from which it aimed to more than double its production to one million carats by 2009/10.
Major diamond mines
Source: Diamants infos


Diamond Mines of the World (Kevin Hulsey-Jewelry)


It is estimated that about 60 percent of the world's known diamond reserves are located in Africa, whereas Africa's contribution to the global output was 90 million carats in 2006 or 55 percent. So far Africa had produced diamonds worth some $192 billion or over 76 percent of the world's diamonds by value.
The approximate breakdown of diamond production by value (2007) within Africa is:
* Botswana: $3.2 billion
* Angola: $1.5 billion
* South Africa: $1.6 billion
* Democratic Republic of Congo: $0.8 billion
* Namibia: $0.7 billion
* Other African nations: $0.6 billion (Source: DiamondFacts.org)



According to cynical artisanal diamond diggers in the Central African Republic...
Les Diamants sont...
Trouvé par des noirs
Acheté par des musulmans
Vendus par des juifs, et
Portés par des putains.
or
Diamonds are...
Found by blacks
Bought by muslims
Sold by jews, and
Worn by prostitutes.



Posted by Carel van der Merwe at 19.2.07