Anglo American鈥檚 De Beers, the world鈥檚 largest rough diamond producer by value, has , aimed at removing conflict diamonds from the market by tracing the route of precious stones dug up by artisanal and small-scale miners (ASM).
The company said several ethically sourced, traceable diamonds from prospectors in Sierra Leone were available at the auction聽in Singapore.听All gem-quality diamonds, the largest being an聽11-carats rock,聽found their buyers, De Beers said.听
Since beginning as聽a pilot in 2018聽with聽14 registered ASM sites,聽GemFair聽has expanded to nearly 200聽mining areas聽participating in the聽program.听聽
While聽GemFair聽has been purchasing rough diamonds from its members since聽its聽inception, bringing those diamonds to market required a considered approach,聽De Beers said.听That聽included聽the creation of the聽GemFair聽ASM Assurance聽Programme, the development of a digital traceability solution, the production profile of the goods, and the impact of the pandemic on volumes.听
鈥淲e鈥檝e been focused on bringing beautiful, traceable, ethically sourced ASM diamonds to market and to demonstrate that buying聽diamonds from artisanal and small-scale miners in a responsible way is the right thing to do and has the potential to be transformative for the sector,鈥澛燬teve Allan, head of聽GemFair, said .听
Artisanal mining accounts for only 20% of global diamond聽production, but聽carries a tainted reputation that has damaged consumer confidence for almost 20 years.听
Between 1991 and 2002, the district聽of Kono, in Sierra Leone, was at the聽centre聽of the 鈥渂lood diamond鈥� trade that funded the country鈥檚 brutal civil war as rebel groups exchanged gems for weapons.听
Despite the establishment of the Kimberley Process in 2003, aimed at removing from the supply chain the now called 鈥渃onflict diamonds鈥� (those mined in an area of armed conflict and traded illicitly to finance the fighting), experts say聽.听
According to Canada-based Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG)聽聽on the global market in value terms are still a significant source of funding for regimes accused of committing crimes and human rights violations.听