Sunday, March 2, 2008

Conflict Diamonds



Diamonds are considered one of the "Must Have" things in any women in the world. Diamonds with all its kind goes through many processes from extracting it to selling it in a jewelry store. Nowadays there are several locations where diamonds are found. I will now describe important locations along the trade rout these most valuable of rocks pass.

I will begin with South Africa. It has the biggest diamonds mining company in the world and the name of that company is De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. Most of the diamonds there are mined in South Africa, in one of their 20 mines. The company control two thirds –which is around 67%- of the diamonds in the world. In the early 20th, the company kept their prices high by simply using monopoly. They restricted the amount of diamonds on the market. Another location is Belgium; it has a city which is considered the diamond center for 600 years. That city is Antwerp. In this city, different races are associated with the diamond trade like Indians and Lebanese. In this time, there are about 500 polishers and cutters are left in the city. 80% of the world rough diamonds pass through the city. India is next, as a source of diamonds.90% of the world's rough diamonds are cut and polished in India. They get their rough diamonds from several places like South Africa, from Dee Beer Company and Belgium, from Antwerp. As for workers, they get paid 40 cent for each cut and polished gem. Another country that has a growing reputation as a diamond hub is the United Arab Emirates. To be more specific, Dubai. This emirate has a deal that attracts every diamond trader in the world to the city. The deal is "50 year zero tax holiday diamonds for traders". The diamond business is worth £1 billion in Dubai. Last but not least, The United State of America. There are many artists and pop stars that wear diamonds. One of the famous pop stars is Beyonce.

In conclusion, the business of diamonds has its solid and strong structure in the world and is growing rapidly.

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