The richest mine in the world is found in Jwaneng in Botswana about 100 miles west of the city of Gaborono. It is the richest diamond mine in the world when measured by value of recovered diamonds

When measured by the volume of the diamond production the Argyle diamond mine in the Kimberley region in Western Australia is the biggest. Due to the low proportion of gem-quality diamonds, is not the leader by value:

South Africa's Venetia Diamond Mine located in Limpopo Province, in north-easter South Africa is the third largest in the world. The Venetia diamond mineproduces over 40% of the world's gem-quality diamonds:

 The Catoca diamond mine is the fourth largest diamond mine in the world, and is located in Northern Angola:

A very spectacular diamond mine is located in Mirny in Russia. This mine was one of the biggest in the world but is not in production anymore since 2004. The mine is 525 m deep and has a diameter of 1,200 m:

 

 

Another special diamond mine is the Diavik diamond mine located 300 kilometers northeast of Yellowknife, capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories. This mine is situated in a very remote area often totally frozen and very hard to reach. It also has it own airport to serve the mine:

 

In the winter the mine is hard to reach due to snowfall and ice:

 

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The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa.

As De Beers took control of all aspects of the world diamond trade, it assumed many forms. In London, it operated under the innocuous name of the Diamond Trading Company. In Israel, it was known as "The Syndicate." In Europe, it was called the "C.S.O." -- initials referring to the Central Selling Organization, which was an arm of the Diamond Trading Company. And in central Africa, it disguised its South African origins under subsidiaries with names like Diamond Development Corporation and Mining Services, Inc. At its height -- for most of this century -- it not only either directly owned or controlled all the diamond mines in southern Africa but also owned diamond trading companies in England, Portugal, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland.

By the 1990s, the supply chain had evolved into four stages, two of which are dominated by De Beers as a monopoly controlling the buying of raw diamonds, while the final stages are also strongly influenced by De Beers as the dominant seller:
Mine Production (46 percent controlled by De Beers)
Rough Diamond Distribution (80 to 85 percent controlled by De Beers)
Preparation/Cutting
Retail Markets (see discussion of De Beers marketing ad)

Since the 1960s, De Beers has been subject to antitrust charges, led by the U.S. Justice Department that it has chosen not to answer in court. As a result, it is prohibited from conducting business in the United States, ironically the largest retail market for the end products it helps to create.

value of about $1.2 billion.

Diamond-mining is undertaken in Botswana by Debswana, a joint venture between the government and De Beers Century AG. It operates three mines at Jwaneng, Letlhakane, and Orapa. The Jwaneng mine is in southern Botswana and was opened in 1982. It is among the world’s largest and richest diamond mines.

sources: http://au.encarta.msn.com/media_461550531/De_Beers'_Jwaneng_Diamond_Mine.html
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/diamonds/other.html
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/watch/diamonds/volcanoes.htm




pictures of diamond mine mines mining de beer factory and south africa
The Jwaneng mine elmas kristal madeni uydudan resimleri cok derin elmas
ocagı ocağı ocaği elmas uretimi elmas cukuru images of diamond mining
diamond mines diamond source and resources

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Dimond Mines

Apparently the largest ever hand-dug excavation in the world, this 1097 meter deep mine yielded over 3 tons of diamonds before being closed in 1914

#2. Glory Hole – Monticello Dam, California 

A glory hole is used when a dam is at full capacity and water needs to be drained from the reservoir. This is the ‘Glory Hole’ at Monticello dam, and it’s the largest in the world of this type of spillway, its size enabling it to consume 14,400 cubic feet of water every second
#3. Bingham Canyon Mine, Utah

This is supposedly the largest man-made excavation on earth. Extraction began in 1863 and still continues today, the pit increasing in size constantly. In its current state the hole is miles deep and 2.5 miles wide
#4. Great Blue Hole , Belize

This incredible geographical phenomenon known as a blue hole is situated 60 miles off the mainland of Belize. There are numerous blue holes around the world,
but none as stunning as this one
#5. Mirny Diamond Mine , Siberia

#7. Sinkhole in Guatemala

From: all4yourfun.com

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Dimond Mines

Antwerp, 29 Sep 2009
Again an exceptional rough diamond of 507-carat view (exactly 507.55 Ct) is unearthed last week at the Cullinan mine in South Africa (where the famous Cullinan diamond was discovered in 1905)
This remarkable diamond will yield a record-breaking polished stone of the very best white colour and clarity.

Antwerp, April 3 2009
One of the rarest fancy vivid blue diamond, cut from the 26.58 carat rough stone was discovered in 2008 at Petra Diamonds’ Cullinan diamond mine in South Africa. This is one of the rarest blue diamonds ever found on earth. It is an internally flawless, cushion-shaped diamond weighing 7.03 carats.Expected to be sold at $5.8 to 8.5 million on Sotheby’s auction in May 2009 at Geneva View picture of this blue diamond This rare blue diamond discovered at the same Cullinan mine, last April 2009, was sold at auction in Hong Kong for a world record of more than US $ 10’000’000,00

Antwerp, March 21 2009
A small South Africa mining firm says it has unearthed world's largest diamond, with a size which is purported to be 7000 carats.
There is no information about the reported diamond find but I have my doubts that it is real -
Fake or real? Find out here
Read also at http://www.diamondsnews.com

Antwerp, September 21 2008
Again a very large diamond of 478 carats has been found at the Letseng mine in Lesotho.. This rare stone seems be be of exceptional white color (D) and Loupe Clean. His value value is estimated at several millions of dollars.
Probably this exceptional diamond will be cut by the most famous cutters in Antwerp, World Diamond Center.
To cut and polish this stone it can take about 2 years!

Antwerp 14nth November 2007
An exceptional 493 carat rough diamond (view image), D Color, named
The Letseng Legacy, digged out of the Lesotho mine in South Africa,
is sold today in Antwerp for 7.5 million Euro / US$ 10.4 million.
It will be cut by Antwerp skilled cutters.

Antwerp 9nth March 2007
Record yellow diamond found in Western Australia
Kimberley Diamond found an 18.5-carat yellow diamond at its
Ellendale Pipe 4 in Western Australia, the biggest ever found at the mine.
[AFNS] 09-03-2007 – Kimberley Diamond found an 18.5-carat yellow diamond
at its Ellendale Pipe 4 in Western Australia, the biggest ever found at the mine.
The average size of rough stones found at the Ellendale 4 Pipe has risen from 0.14 to 0.16 carats up to 0.21 carats as of February.
The previous record setter at Ellendale was a 14 carat diamond that sold for more than $400,000. One large stone found at Ellendale 4 in January weighed 12.4 carats, and there were nine other stones weighing more than 6 carats each found the same month.

Antwerp 26nth January 2007
Lesotho has announced the recovery of another big diamond of 216 carat white D color diamond at Leteng

Antwerp, 9nth October 2006
The biggest diamond of the 21nth century is found today in a Lesotho mine in South Africa

The weight of this stone is a 603 Carats uncut (rough) diamond named Promise of Lesotho.
This diamond is of an exceptional white color but the clarity is not as good as the famous Cullinan, a diamond of 3,106.75 carats.
The Promise of Lesotho was sold in Antwerp, the International and World Diamond Center, on Monday 9nth October 2006 to a South African Investment company to the price of US $ 12,360,000.00
The Promise of Lesotho will be cut and polished in Antwerp. The cutter could be Johnny Kneller...
Biggest, largest diamond found on Earth / World - Read about different largest diamonds, biggest deepest diamond mine, Largest open diamond mine. Biggest diamond found out of Earth - Images
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Biggest, largest diamond in World on Earth / Biggest Diamond Mine
News today
The Biggest diamond is found out of Earth
By Stephen Cauchi, Science Reporter, February 18, 2004

Confirming what the Beatles always knew, astronomers have actually found a diamond in the sky - directly above Australia. It is the biggest known diamond in the universe, in fact.
According to American astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a white dwarf star in the constellation of Centaurus, next to the Southern Cross, has been found to have a 3000-kilometer-wide core of crystallized carbon, or diamond.
It weighs 2.27 thousand trillion trillion tonnes - that's 10 billion trillion trillion carats, or a 1 followed by 34 zeroes. The biggest earthly jewel is one of the British crown jewels, the 530-carat Star of Africa.
However, this cosmic jewel is hidden beneath a layer of hydrogen and helium gases, with the diamond core making up between 50 and 90 per cent of its mass. "It's the mother of all diamonds," said astronomer Travis Metcalfe, who led the team of researchers that studied the star.
"Some people refer to it as Lucy, in a tribute to the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."
Known officially as BPM 37093, the star confirms a theory, first raised in the early 1960S, that cool white dwarfs should have a diamond core.

A white dwarf is what small stars, those up to about the size of the sun, turn into when they run out of nuclear fuel and die.
The intense pressures at the heart of such dead stars compress the carbon into diamond.
But confirming this theory has only been possible recently.
Lucy "pulsates", which means its light fluctuates at regular intervals. "By measuring these pulsation’s, we were able to study the hidden interior of the white dwarf, just like seismograph measurements of earthquakes allow geologists to study the interior of the Earth," Dr Metcalfe said.
"We figured that the carbon interior of this white dwarf has solidified to form the galaxy's largest diamond."
This means that other white dwarfs must also have diamond cores. Our own sun will become a white dwarf when it dies in 5 billion years. Two billion years after that, its ember core will crystallize as well, leaving a giant diamond in the center of our solar system.
Vince Ford, a research officer at Mount Stromlo Observatory near Canberra, said astronomers, including Australians, had observed the star for more than eight years.
The star is about 50 light-years away (500 trillion kilometers) - a fair distances as far as stars go. This means it is about 400 times too faint to see with the naked eye.
Source: http://www.theage.com.au/



The biggest open diamond mine in the world is located in Mirny in East Siberia, Russia
Look at the city to feel the scale of the hole.

From: ajediam.com

 

I never thought I would, but I am finally getting married. Not because I couldn’t find someone, I just needed to find someone who shared my World of Warcraft habit. Anyway, I didn’t realize that finding a diamond engagement ring would be such a big deal. Pardon me, but I find the idea of choosing a piece of female jewelry the most boring thing this side of a medically induced coma.

I mean c’mon, what’s a diamond anyway? It’s just a piece of carbon, compressed deep inside the core of the Earth and the hardest thing known to man. But when I say it like that it sounds kinda cool.
My previous knowledge of diamonds before this research is the James Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever. I think there was also a Bond villain whose face was embedded with diamonds? Lets not forget the Pink Panther movies, and of course, the last Danny Ocean movie was all based around a diamond heist.


But listen, it’s not just movies that make diamonds interesting, the way they get diamonds out of the ground is also really cool.

Huge volcanic action pushes the precious stones up to the surface of the Earth in what are called Kmberlite pipes. All you have to do then is rip up the ground and dig them out. This means huge open cast mining techniques are used leaving massive, open wounds. As if the Planet developed a huge zit burst by mining and left as an everlasting scar.
Ekati diamond mine is one of the biggest in Canada. It is the most recent diamond mine on the Planet. It is both a surface and an underground min.
Its location is in the Arctic Circle and has to be supplied by frozen road in the winter, although it does have a runway big enough to take large jets.


World Diamond Production for 2006South Africa 67,000K cts
Russia 23,400K cts
Botswana 24,000K cts
Canada 12,350K cts
Australia 7,305K cts
Angola 7,000K cts
Congo 5,600K cts
Namibia 2,200K cts
Ghana 780,000 cts
Sierra Leone 360K cts
Guinea 355K cts
Central African Rep. 315K cts
Brazil 300K cts
Ivory Coast 200K cts
Tanzania 195,000 cts
China 100K cts
Venezuela 45K cts
Liberia 7K cts
Ekati Diamond Mine, Canada


Coordinates: 64°42′49″N 110°37′10″W



Google Map of Ekati diamond mine:


Imagery ©2009 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Map data ©2009 Tele Atlas - Terms of Use
Map
Satellite
Hybrid
2000 ft
1 km

Imagery ©2009 DigitalGlobe, GeoEye, Map data ©2009 Tele Atlas - Terms of Use
Map
Satellite
Hybrid
2000 ft
1 km

Official Ekati Diamond Mine Site

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ekati_Diamond_Mine
 

 
Kimberly mine is where Cecil Rhodes, the man after which Rhodesia was named (later to become Zimbabwe) made his fortune. It is the biggest hand dug hole in the world, it’s depth being over 1,000 metres.

The mine has given up over 3 tonnes of diamonds and finally closed in 1914.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley,_Northern_Cape
Diavik mine, Canada

The Diavik diamond mine has produced 8 million carats or about 1,600kg (3,500 lb) since production commenced in January 2003

Coordinates: 64°29′46″N 110°16′24″W

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diavik_Diamond_MineOffical site of the Diavik Diamond Mine
Argyle Diamond mine, Australia

The Argyle mine is one of the biggest in the world, claiming to produce a quarter of the world’s natural diamonds.

Since the mine opened, over 700 million carats of diamonds have been recovered

http://www.mining-technology.com/projects/argyle/

Image source

Infomine Argyle mine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyle_diamond_mine

From: diamonds-usa.com

The Diamond Theft: Quick and Dirty

Vera Krupp never took her 33-carat diamond ring off her finger. The center stone was about the size of a marble. When two men broke into her ranch outside Las Vegas in 1959, they had to literally pry it off her finger, drawing blood.


Most diamonds thefts are far less glamorous than the 2008 Damiani raid (and far less brilliant). In 2005, two men stole a diamond from a mall jewelry store in Canada using the sleight-of-hand method. They asked to see a solitaire, and when the clerk turned her head, they switched it with a cubic zirconia. Mall security found the thieves attempting to do the same thing in another store at the same mall.

In another failed attempt at grand theft, a man in the United Kingdom pocketed a $16,000, 2-carat diamond ring from a jewelry store and got caught when he tried to sell the piece to another branch of the same store. The clerk called the cops while the guy waited patiently for her to weigh the ring in the back of the store.


Still, the most common methods of stealing diamonds often go unnoticed. There's a reason why lots of people insist on watching while a jeweler does repairs or resizes on valuable pieces: A jeweler can easily switch out a diamond for a cubic zirconia, or a perfect diamond for one that's flawed. A jeweler in Palm Beach went to jail in 2000 for switching out real diamonds for fakes when people came in for repairs. In all, he stole more than $80 million in jewels from a wide range of victims (including golfer Jack Nicklaus). However, unscrupulous jewelers can't steal anywhere near the number of diamonds as people working in diamond mines can.
 

Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
Workers in diamond mines like the DeBeers Wesselton mine in Kimberly, South Africa, have easy -- and regular -- access to uncut diamonds.


All along the South African coast, workers regularly walk off with millions of dollars in rough (uncut) stones. As they pull diamonds from the churned-up seabed gravel, they'll check to see if guards are watching, and if not, they'll slip one or two under their fingernails. Later, when it's safe, they swallow them, insert them into an orifice or load them onto homing pigeons. One thief in Namaqualand got caught when a guard spotted a homing pigeon trying unsuccessfully to take off. The man had loaded so many diamonds into his bird's harness, it couldn't get off the ground [source: The Atlantic].


In the workrooms, where the floor is strewn with small diamonds, employees wear glue-soled boots and walk right out of the mine with -- yes -- diamonds on the soles of their shoes. De Beers, the diamond conglomerate that runs the largest legitimate operations in South Africa (not the conflict diamond operations run by South African rebel groups), randomly X-rays workers on their way out. Diamonds fluoresce when exposed to X-rays. But due to the of the risk of daily radiation exposure, De Beers can only scan randomly, so lots of those pocketed diamonds make it out mines and workrooms.


Theft from the mines is just part of life on the Diamond Coast. DeBeers spends millions of dollars every week buying stolen diamonds back so they don't flood the market and cause diamond prices to tank. They estimate that workers steal up to 30 percent of the mines' yield [source: The Atlantic]. In these mining towns, it's easy to sell a stolen diamond.

Even with hauls in the millions, it's not the quiet thefts that draw real attention. It's the big, glamorous heists -- ones where thieves walk off with bags of diamonds in a brilliant show of patience and planning. So, what's the most unbelievable diamond heist on the record books? Probably the one in which the thief charmed his way into the safe.

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Thursday, January 07, 2010
West African Diamonds says its doing well as it nears Stellar merger and eyes further consolidation



In its interim results statement for the six months ended 31st October 2009, AIM listed West African Diamonds (AIM: WAD) said it has done well as it progresses with its merger with Stellar Diamonds. During the period the Bomboko diamond mine in Guinea came on stream and the company made a number of strategic developments. The junior diamond producer said it will continue to grow through consolidation activity.

Bomboko came on stream in June and subsequent diamond sales realised an average US$117 per carat, as poor market conditions led to the lower-than-anticipated average price. However West African Diamonds reported a marked improvement in conditions for the end of 2009 with higher prices expected going forward. West African Diamonds continued an expansion programme at Bomboko, installing an additional plant which is now fully operational, boosting production capacity and enabling diamond production of 1,500 carats per month.

In the six months ended 31st October 2009 the junior diamond producer made an operating loss of £128,000, equating to 0.17 pence per share.

In order to focus its resources on the Bomboko mine and relieve its financial obligations, the AIM listed diamond company agreed joint ventures on its two projects in Sierra Leone. A Lebanese/Japanese consortium, the Thunderball JV, assumed the interest in the Pipe 3 kimberlite and surrounding dykes. Under the deal, West African Diamonds will retain a 20% free carry though to production. Elsewhere the mining licence for the Plant 11 undersize tailings near Koidu has been transferred to locally based, privately owned Pyramid Resources in return for a 5% production royalty.

According to this morning’s statement, the decision to merge with privately held Stellar Diamonds was the highlight of the period. In November the board told investors that the merger was progressing well. The newly combined venture is expected to re-list during the first quarter of 2010, subject to approvals and a new fund raising. Stellar Diamonds’ principal shareholder is African Aura Mining Inc (AIM: AAAM; TSX-V: AAZ).

The board felt the company was previously too small to attract significant investor interest and subsequently targeted a consolidation driven growth strategy. The proposed merger will combine West African Diamonds and Stellar Diamonds on a 25/75% basis before the new funding.

The new company will have two producing diamond mines in Guinea, Bomboko and Mandala, with a combined resource base of over 1.5 million carats, as well as three joint ventures in Sierra Leone. Additionally it will also hold 100% interests in two high grade kimberlite projects, Droujba in Guinea and Tongo in Sierra Leone.

In reference to the outlook going forward, the company said it will continue to grow through consolidation activity in what it believes is a fragmented and undervalued industry. Additionally the merger and planned financing is expected to strengthen the balance sheet and enable the high grade kimberlite projects to be developed.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
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The “New” Blood Diamonds: Guinea’s Bauxite, Burma’s Rubies, the DRC…
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SIMON RIEKERT JOINS WEST AFRICAN DIAMONDS AS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

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Are Diamonds a Security Issue as well?

In November the Kimberley Process will once again meet. If one reads the Annual Review Diamonds and Human Security compiled by Partnership Africa Canada then one can assume that the current process is failing and on the verge of collapse. So why is this occurring?

There is currently no Accountability. The Chair of the Process has no real power besides the ability to convene the members of the process. The Debates on vital issues can drag on for years and for there to be Consensus there has to be no dissent amongst the Members of the Process. So on this level the Process appears to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

So when the Process meets in Namibia this month there are several serious situations that need to be addressed. Sadly most of them are located in Africa. And if one reads the International News Pages a general idea can be generated regarding what are the Nations that will be the focus of the “scrutiny” of the Process.

In recent days the UN has extended the Embargo against Diamonds emerging from the Ivory Coast for another year. Presidential Elections which are scheduled for the end of the month could once again be delayed. Also there are Arms flowing into the country from neighboring Burkina Faso. The UN Report indicated that Israeli nationals and companies are complicit in the transfer of rough stones. Liberia the UAE and Lebanon should monitor the illegal import of stones from Ivory Coast. Mali has important links to the Ivorian Diamond Trade and they have received an Arms Package from the US in October.

Another country that has major problems regarding Diamonds is Zimbabwe. Last October there were reports of a Massacre of Artisanal Diamond Miners by the Zimbabwe Military. Also there were reports that the Diamonds were being driven across the border into South Africa in UN Vehicles. It has also been reported in the past that the country has been a hub in the smuggling of diamonds. At the next meeting of the Kimberley Process Zimbabwe is expected to face some form of penalty for its bad actions. We shall soon find out what happens.

Another plot twist is the situation involving the Republic of the Congo. After being the only country suspended from the Process in 2004 it was readmitted in 2007. There is little or no interest into the Diamond Mining in the country why not? Guinea which just had a massacre in September has serious diamond Issues as well. In fact the export program is considered to be an extortion ring.

We have heard about how minerals and their control by Militia Forces in the DRC are a contributing factor to the bloodshed that plagues the country. How some of these Militias convert these gems into cash to purchase weapons is not known but it can be said that Conflict Diamonds are being exported from the Congo. There have been some allegations that the Zimbabwean Government has skimmed off some stones as they are in transit but there is no independent confirmation however stones from the massacre site have appeared through Africa and South America.

So the process that was created to halt the spread of Conflict Diamonds is only paying lip service to ending the Process. And people in Africa are paying the price for it.

From: sierraexpressmedia.com

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