From the archives: Harry Levy of the Gemological Association of Great Britain provides some interesting commentary on diamonds, regulation, traceability of diamonds, and the KP:

Wars occur without the presence of diamonds; it does not follow that if there are diamonds then war will ensue. The rebels themselves say that if there were no diamonds they would use other natural commodities to obtain money. The diamond industry has been maligned for years now as a source of evil and too many people with absolutely no knowledge of the diamond industry and trade have jumped in to try to make our world a better place. There seems to be little equivalent activity to control the oil industry and, more important, the arms industry.

via WFDB

It does seem that the consumer baton is being passed on to the Millennials. The boomer generation is retiring in large numbers now, and their attention is turning to dealing with retirement. The Millennials are bringing a different attitude towards buying luxuries and it is one we are not used to.

…The vast majority of diamond dealers, and even diamond retailers, have not the slightest idea of how to enhance the product. With them, it is still a candy store business. And many will be departing the business as a result.

via Gem Thoughts
Also on millennials:

The Atlantic: How Millennials Spend
Millennials anticipated spending the greatest amount of money in the coming year on fresh fruits, organic food, and natural products. Less favorable, in their minds, was the idea of spending on luxury goods, soda, applications, and handbags.

If you do not want to get scammed, free your mind of greed. Do not believe in miracles in the rough diamond business, and if you don’t know what you are doing, hire someone who does.

When a man with experience, meets a man with money, the man with money gets the experience, and the man with experience gets the money.

via Rough Diamond Geologist

via Words Without Borders: “Let’s Deal”: A Conversation with a Diamond Smuggler

Jason Miklian of Prio, also known for a spectacular article on Surat, also comes out with this gem about trying to track down Rough Diamond Geologist’s seller in the DRC

via Rough Diamond Geologist:

I know the sanctions are imposed to try and affect regime change, but that strategy has been counter-productive. The people I spoke with don’t blame Mr. Mugabe for their suffering and hardship, they blame the West. The banks have a severe liquidity problem and the poor and the average person are the ones who are paying the price for the sanctions. White, black, green or yellow, everyone I spoke to about the sanctions wanted to tell the West that it is they the folks, who are suffering and paying the price.

via Rough Diamond Geologist:

So… let’s see, maybe I should do a little review here: Not a single fluorescent stone from a country with a high percentage of fluorescent stones.

Not a single Sawable 2 or Makable 1 or 2 in a country that has mostly Sawable 2, Makable 1, and Makable 2.(Sawable and Makable are rough diamond shapes)

Not a single stone was less than 8-9 carats. Yet, the manifest clearly stately the parcel contains stones from 5 carat and above.

Not a single trigon. It is possible for some of the stones to be without trigons, but is it possible to have 200 plus stones without a single commonly seen trigon?

Not a single step growth or step fracture. It is possible to have some stones without the steps, but is it possible to have 200 plus stones without a single step?

I put the parcel down.

Via RoughDiamondGeologist:

Unfortunately, from almost day one, the Kimberley Process was a very sad joke. Diamonds continued to flow from conflict countries. At first, it was circumvented within the diamond manufacturing industry. There were mining companies and their customers who put profits ahead of the well-being of those who were being tortured and killed. They simply shipped the diamonds to non-conflict countries and had the Kimberley Certificates issued in those countries.

This interview is fascinating. Farai Maguwu was imprisoned by Mugabe’s thugs after documenting human rights abuses in Marange and reporting them to KPCS monitors. Here he details his frustrations with the KP :

Martin Rapaport meets with diggers in Sierra Leone