Is DeBeers a mining company? Is DeBeers a diamond
cutting company? Is DeBeers a marketing company? Is DeBeers a
cartel? Who is DeBeers and what is their role in the diamond market?
Is DeBeers responsible for the blood shed in South Africa? Are
DeBeers diamonds conflict diamonds? Is there a DeBeers brand of
diamond? Did my diamond come from DeBeers? Do all diamonds pass
through DeBeers? Can DeBeers tell me where my diamond came from?
What is a DeBeers Site Holder? And what is a DeBeers Site Sale? Who
is the DeBeers Family? And how long has the DeBeers Family controlled the
world diamond market?
These are common questions that we are asked about DeBeers and we will
attempt to answer them to the best of our knowledge... DeBeers is a
company that manages approximately 91% of the world diamond production and/or
distribution of diamond rough (uncut gems). DeBeers has controlled the
diamond market for approximately 200 years. DeBeers recently bought back
their stock and moved from a publicly traded company to private operation.
The majority of DeBeers stock is now owned by the Oppenheimer family who has
been involved with the daily operation of DeBeers since its inception. We
would like to think that DeBeers operations are a benefit to South Africa and
other countries where they conduct business... According to DeBeers, they
are not involved with the conflict in South Africa and do not sell conflict
diamonds. Although we do not purchase our diamonds direct from DeBeers
(only 50 companies actually do - more on that later), we only represent polished
diamonds sourced through approved DeBeers channels and thus you are assured that
we are not selling conflict diamonds. When DeBeers obtains a diamond site,
they literally build a city around it and provide the miners with medical
facilities, school facilities, grocery and literary options, etc. that were not
available to the miners before... In this way, we believe that DeBeers
operations add to the productivity and livelihood of the
people involved in their mining operations.
The last
time we checked, DeBeers managed and controlled approximately 91% of the world's
diamond production in one way or another... Thus not all of the diamonds
available on the open market are "DeBeers Diamonds" some are
"black market" diamonds that are sourced from other channels... The
term "black market" is used to refer to any diamonds managed by firms
outside of the DeBeers operations or control... We purchase our diamonds
direct from DeBeers authorized site holders and thus only sell DeBeers
diamonds... There are only 50 approved site holders in the world and they
purchase uncut diamond rough from DeBeers at site sales that occur every six
weeks or so... The majority of our suppliers are direct site holders and a
few are secondary suppliers who purchase uncut rough from the primary site
holders...
DeBeers is in the process of experimenting with the possibility
of branding the diamonds that move through their facilities with a DeBeers
logo... To be honest, we don't see the point... Diamonds sell based
on their clarity, color, cut, and carat weight, not which company sourced
them... But hey, to each their own... If DeBeers wants to brand
their stones, we'll represent DeBeers branded stones...
At this point in time, DeBeers does not keep track of the origin of every
diamond that passes through their facilities... Thus nobody can tell you
with any accuracy where your diamond was sourced from... Anybody who
claims to be able to do so is probably just spinning you a story that they think
you want to hear... Sometimes we can tell you where we sourced a diamond
from, for instance we can tell you that it was cut in Tel Aviv or Ramit Gan,
Israel or Antwerp, Belgium but even that might not be accurate because the
cutters trade diamonds amongst each other at the diamond bourses all the
time... So we'll only be as accurate as the point of last origin known to
us...
More about the Secretive World of DeBeers...