slides about diamonds

2. Did You Know?

3. The Four C’s
●CUT
●COLOR
●CLARITY
●CARAT

4. The Diamond Market
●$13 billion diamonds mined and sold annually
●$8.5 billion of those from African mines
●$1.6 billion from South Africa

5. The Unbreakable Gem
●Most concentrated form of carbon
●Derived from 120 miles within the earth’s crust
○High pressures and temperatures
○Crystal bonds
●Volcanic eruptions

6. Origins of the Diamond
Industry
●1867 –Erasmus Jacobs found a pebble on the bank of the
Orange River
○“The Eureka,” 21.25 carats, £500
●Prospectors flooded into Hopetown
●1870 – Griqua shepherd, Booi, found another pebble
○“The Star of Africa,” 83.50 carats, £25,000
○1871 - The “New Rush”
●De Beers brothers sold their farm

7. Origins of the Diamond
Industry
●Cecil Rhodes
○Steam operated pump
○De Beers Mining Company
●1889 – Rhodes bought out Barney Barnato and his Anglo-
American company for a monopoly on all diamond mines in
South Africa
○£5,338,650 payment to Barnato
○De Beers Consolidated Mines Company
●1919 – Ernest Oppenheimer seized opportunity in Congo and
Angola mines
○Appointed new chairman of De Beers
○Oppenheimer family still runs company

8. Diamond Mine Conditions
●90% of diamonds from “artisans”
●Mostly coloured and black people
●“A and B band” wages
○Marriage prohibited
○Separated from families
○No transportation
○Forced to live in compounds
○No contact with outside world
■Prevent illicit diamond buying (IDB)

9. Diamond Mining Compounds
●Compounds
○Iron cabins 25’ x 30’
○Corrugated iron fence
○Wooden bunkbeds
■No mattress
■No linens
○No electricity
○No running water
○Concrete swimming pool, hospital, and dispensary
○Disease (pneumonia, HIV/AIDS)

10. Kimberley Compound

11. Contribution to Apartheid
●“Apartheid is descendant from South Africa’s
wealth in gold and diamonds. The apartheid laws
that caused so much misery for so many people
really devolved from ways the colonial occupiers of
South Africa have managed to...keep their work
force in order.”
-Tom Zoellner, South African Literature Author

12. The Diamond Industry & Apartheid
●Apartheid powers were greatly influenced by the
diamond industry
●De Beers Company was very secretive
○Benefited from the pass laws, migrant labor system, job
reservation, forced removals, cheap labor, and intensified
compounds of apartheid
●1997 – Earthlife requested that De Beers go before
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
●2003 – Mining businesses made to pay reparations to
victims of apartheid

13. Blood Diamonds
●Global Witness report on diamond jewelers
○25 did not respond
●“Conflict Diamonds”
●Mined to finance African civil wars through the purchase of
weapons or the commission of violent acts against innocent
people
●The Kimberley Process
○Tamperproof container
○Certificate documentation
●Clean Diamond Trade Act
○Mandated observation of the
Kimberley Process

14. Blood Diamonds in Sierra
Leone

15. Blood Diamonds in Pop
Culture
●Blood Diamond, 2006 film
●Lord of War, 2005 film
●Die Another Day, 2002 film
●“Going Hard,” 2004 song
○Talib Kweli
●“Diamonds from Sierra Leone,” 2005 song
○Kanye West

16. Where is the Wealth Going?
●Human Rights Activist Groups
○$15 billion of diamonds exported annually from diamond-
producing countries like Sierra Leone
○Over half of the people living within the country survive on
only 30 cents per day
○61% of people in South Africa live below the poverty line
○Uhuru Movement
●World Diamond Council
○$8.5 billion annually goes to Africa
○Finances: relegates profits to African nations in need
○Healthcare: finances HIV research, education, and medical efforts
○Education: uses revenues to finance schooling
○Employment: offers over 38,000 jobs through the industry

17. Cape Town Tourism:
The Diamond Works
●Located in Cape Town
●Diamond cutting workshop
●Jewelry-making workshop
●History of the diamond industry

18. References
● “Blood Diamonds in Popular Culture.” Mining Industry News. Mining and Exploration Resources. 16 Apr. 2011. Web 22 Apr. 2011.
● “Clean Diamond Act Law & Legal Definition.” U.S. Legal. 2003. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● “DiamondFacts.” World Diamond Council. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● Diamonds are Forever. “Blood Diamonds.” Diamonds are Forever. Web 22. Apr. 2011.
● “Earthlife Rails the SA Diamond Industry.” South African Press Association. 1997. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.
● “Facts About Diamonds: Diamond Industry Creates Astronomical Wealth for Europe and America, Poverty and Oppression for Africans.”
Burning Spear Uhuru. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● “Gold and Diamonds.” U.S. Library of Congress. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● Mark Solomon Jewellers. “The History of Diamonds in South Africa.” Mark Solomon Jewellers, Cape Town. 2010. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● Martin, Michel. “The Dark Side of Diamonds.” National Public Radio (NPR). 24 May 2006. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● OneWorld.net. “Blood Diamonds Still Sold by U.S. Retailers.” Common Dreams. 1 Apr. 2004. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.
● “Pass Laws in South Africa.” South Africa History Online. South Africa History. Web. 24 Apr. 2011.
● Penning, William. Gold and Diamonds. New York, Freeport: Books for Libraries Press, 1972. Print.
● Roberts, Janine. Glitter & Greed: The Secret World of the Diamond Cartel. New York, New York: The Disinformation Company Ltd.,
2003. Print.
● Roberts, Janine. “Working Conditions in the Coastal Diamond Mines Kleinzee, CDM, and Alexcorp.” 2002. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● “The Diamond Works.” Cape Town and Western Cape Tourist Attractions. South Africa Venues. 1999. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● “The Nature of Diamonds.” American Museum of Natural History. Web. 21 Apr. 2011.
● Thompson, Leonard. A History of South Africa: Diamonds, Gold, and British Imperialism 1870-1910. New Haven: Yale University Press,
2000. Print.
● Turell, Rob. “Diamonds and Migrant Labor in South Africa, 1869-1910.” History Today. 36.5 (1986): 45-49. Print.
● United States Congress. Clean Trade Act, April 25, 2003. Public Law 108-19-Apr. 25, 2003. Washington: GPO, 2003.
● West, Richard. The Diamonds and The Necklace. Bury St. Edwards, Suffolk: St. Edmundsbury Press Ltd., 1989. Print.
● “World Diamond Market.” DiaMine Explorations, Inc. 2007. Web. 22 Apr. 2011.
● Zoellner, Tom. The Heartless Stone: A Journey Through the World of Diamonds, Deceit, and Desire. New York: St. Martin’s Press,

19. Questions?