There are many famous precious materials that the everyday person knows of. Gold, silver and in more recent times platinum are all known for their scarcity and desirability. However it is a crystalline form of carbon, not a precious metal, which carries more prestige than all three of them together. The diamond. Ever since the Kimberly diamond rush began in 1866, diamonds have played a very distinct role in our society. We are taught from an early age on that diamonds are extremely valuable due to their unrivalled beauty and apparent rarity.
However not many people are aware of the fact that ever since diamonds were found in Kimberly, South Africa, the industry of distributing and selling this precious gem has been predominantly run by a single cartel. The “De Beers Mining Company”. A cartel is defined as “an international syndicate, formed esp. to control prices and output in some field of business” (The Free Dictionary 2009) and “De Beers” fits this definition very well. Over the past 120 years, they have been instrumental in controlling the price of diamonds.
The following essay will give a brief history of the “De Beers Mining Company” and the diamond industry as a whole. It will also discuss several arguments which support the statement of diamonds being priced to highly and shed light on the connection between diamonds and marriage.
Before the discovery of diamonds in South Africa, a diamond trade had only truly existed in India and Brazil. No sizable deposits had yet been found and as a result of this, diamonds commanded an exorbitant price. However this all changed when the first diamond was discovered in the Kimberly region of South Africa. Soon after mines started springing up all around Kimberly, with the Vaal River ...
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...) to control the diamond market, it is evident that the price of diamonds is too high. Due to the monopolistic nature of the market, the De Beers Diamond Cartel is able to reap vast profits by controlling the supply of diamonds. It is quite startling to know that even in this modern day and age, one corporation is pulling all the strings in what has become a huge global market.
Unfortunately I do believe that at the moment, only a diamond ring is an acceptable engagement ring. As long as we still hear stories from our parents and grandparents about their beautiful diamond engagement rings and how it should cost “3 months’ salary”, diamond rings will stay the norm. It has been ingrained into our society by the decade long jewellery adverts. Especially the coined phrase “a diamond is forever”, adds to the hope and wishes that the marriage will be a long lasting one.
Engagement rings initially served a double purpose. In the days when brides were purchased, these rings were partial payment for the bride in addition to symbolizing the groom's intentions and woman's agreement. Diamonds were first found in Medieval Italy and due to their hardness symbolized enduring love.
Diamonds were not bought as a store of value, they could not be traded in the same w...
The CFDC will continue to campaign and inform people on how to make sure that their purchase is conflict free and to gain support from the diamond trade in educating consumers. With the help of these organizations and many others, it will help save the lives of millions from violence or death. Works Cited The Conflict-Free Diamond Council. 2004.
It’s hard to imagine that a mineral could be fueling wars and funding corrupt governments. This mineral can be smuggled undetected across countries in a coat pocket, then be sold for vast amounts of money. This mineral is used in power tools, parts of x-ray machines, and microchips but mostly jewelry. Once considered the ultimate symbol of love, the diamond has a darker story. "Blood" diamonds or "conflict" diamonds are those mined, polished, or traded in areas of the world where the rule of law does not exist. They often originate in war-torn countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, and Côte d'Ivoire were rebels use these gems to fund genocide or other questionable objectives. Even with a system known as the Kimberly process which tracks diamonds to prevent trade of these illicit gems, infractions continue as the process is seriously flawed. The continuation of the blood diamond trade is inhuman, and unethical, and in order to cease this illicit trade further action to redefine a conflict diamond, as well as reform to the diamond certification prosess is nessasary.
...reasing year after year while the quantity supplied is limited because diamond is one of the non-renewable resources. Moreover, it is generally expected that the demand of diamond will grow in the next years and that expectation of excess demand may result to increase the price of diamond.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
“Will you marry me?” These are the words most women dream of hearing one day: the moment when their significant other drops to one knee and pulls out a diamond ring. The engagement experience has always been about the love between two people; however, this age old tradition has not always included the diamond ring. Today, it is the common practice for a man to present a ring of any different shape, size or color to the woman he is hoping will become his fiancée and one day his wife. Most couples would agree that getting engaged is a special occasion based on their love; but with many recent ring advertisements it can be seen that the universal feeling is focused on the diamond engagement ring. Recognizable slogans
Prologue Narrator: It was a cold harsh winter day, the wallows devoid of people, the world blindingly white. It was the middle of nowhere where a man lays. Gaunt. Feverish.
I have chosen to talk about precious gemstones and crystals. There are many people now and days rediscovering the many uses of gemstones and crystals. To my knowledge each, have many different uses. They can be used as adornments, for health, for healing and for spiritual practices. You have probably never even heard of stones or crystals in this fashion before. I am going to take this opportunity to tell you what I know about this fascinating world that I have grown very accustomed to. I am not a gemstone/crystal specialist but, I do know enough about this topic to give you a slight overview about this topic.
Santarossa, B. (2004, January 13). Diamonds: Adding lustre to the Canadian economy. Retrieved November 06, 2017, from https://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-621-m/11-621-m2004008-eng.htm
iii. India dominates the world’s cut and polished diamonds (CPD) market. In value terms, the country accounts for approximately 55 percent of global polished diamond market and nearly 9 percent of the jewellery market. According to GJEPC's provisional estimate, cut and polished diamonds registered 19.06 percent growth in exports at US$ 7.11 mn.
In “ “Blood Diamonds” and Africa’s Armed Conflicts in the Post – Cold War Era, “ Orogun (2004) said that diamonds are referring as “clean stones”. This article explains about the black market is really happening in African. I am using this article to support how the black market of diamond trades is still not regulated, and they defined it as “licit” trade.
[5] Diamond Industry Annual Review, De Beers Signs New Angolan Agreement, [internet] Accessed on: 13th November 2005, http://www.pacweb.org/e/images/stories/documents/addendum%20angola%202005-english.pdf
The film marker is trying to raise awareness of the illicit conflict diamond trade and reinforcing the Kimberley process1 and showing how it will stem the flow of conflict diamonds. This is successful mainly due to the public outburst after the movie. The great impact of the movie has caused diamond companies like De Beers2 to start a pre-emptive PR (public relationship) campaign, even before the movie was released to inform people that their diamonds are conflict-free.
Since the times of antiquated periods ladies have decorated different things of gems like the neckband, hoops, finger rings, toe rings, nose studs, bangles, arm ornaments, armlets and anklets among different others. There is a wide assortment of valuable metals in which these