Conflict Diamonds: The Kimberley Process and the South American Challenge

Abstract

Diamonds, the purest form of carbon, were produced by great heat and pressure 75 to 125 miles below the earth’s surface a billion years ago. Most of the diamonds that subsequently came to the surface did so through small volcanoes that produced carrot-shaped ‘pipes’ of gray- green rock called ‘kimberlite.’ Some of these pipes can be mined by digging down through their core. The initial capital cost of this kind of mining can be enormous, running in some cases to a billion dollars or more. The surfaces of some pipes, however, have been eroded over millions of years, washing diamonds down rivers and across vast expanses of land. These ‘alluvial’ diamonds are often close to the surface and the technology required to mine them is basic.