Diamond Mining Essay

Designer Diamonds

Diamond mining in Africa has turned many parts of the country into a war zone, especially Sierra Leone and. Many people were left wounded and without homes, people were captured by the rebel groups and turned into slaves. Forced to mine diamonds against their will. The Civil War had been going on for ten years, for many children mining became a way of life and many of them were turned into child soldiers.

The rebels would use diamonds as a way of paying for weapons and other machinery; it was a quick and easy payment. This is where the name ‘Blood Diamonds’ came from; the diamonds were mined through slavery, violence and bloodshed.

Artificial Diamonds
Artificial diamonds can be made in different ways such as the Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) method or in the High Pressure, High Temperature (HTHP) method. Both of these methods are very complicated.

Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) are manufactured by many companies including one called Element Six, these artificial diamonds are used in a wide range of technology such as; electronic, sensors, lasers and in thermal management. They are constructed in a vacuum system that allows that is below the average atmospheric pressure. Methane gas then supplies the carbon atoms needed for this process. Because they are able to control the purity of the gas it makes the CVD method a very effective way to make artificial diamonds.

The other method, called the High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) is more commonly used than the Chemical Vapour Deposition one because it is a lot cheaper to fund. There are several ways to make artificial diamonds using HTHP but the BELT press system and the BARS press system are the two most commonly used the BELT system is used by m...

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..., authentic diamonds anymore. Diamond mining has supplied jobs over the years meaning that the people that have relied on mining for an income would be left jobless over time. If artificial diamonds replaced natural diamonds completely the African economy would suffer because diamond mining has been the country’s source of income for many years. Diamonds had helped to fund one of Botswana’s biggest HIV/AIDS programs that helped with the prevention and treatment of the diseases. ‘From a population of 1.6 million people, around 37% suffer from either HIV or AIDS.’
Although artificial diamonds are very popular when it comes to science and the evolution of technology, for some people such as; collectors and jewellers may think that artificial diamonds are nothing like the real thing, and that they aren’t authentic enough. Which could possibly affect their sales.