Diamond Flashes

Written by Laura Ciocan


Beyond magnificence and splendor,repparttar world of diamonds evolves on stirred grounds. Whenrepparttar 124183 stake is so important, interests collide. But technology develops following its onward course. Here are some interesting off-stage events inrepparttar 124184 diamond industry and innovations in technology.

De Beers sued by head ofrepparttar 124185 Diamond Bourse

Derek Parsons,repparttar 124186 president ofrepparttar 124187 Diamond Bourse ofrepparttar 124188 Southeast United States has filed a lawsuit against De Beers, onrepparttar 124189 charge ofrepparttar 124190 company's disregard of American competition law. Their Supplier of Choice policy putsrepparttar 124191 American dealers at a disadvantage. The suit was not launched on behalf ofrepparttar 124192 Miami bourse but on behalf of diamond dealers in America, condemningrepparttar 124193 criteria on which De Beers makesrepparttar 124194 sales – they would sell only to their sightholders, discouragingrepparttar 124195 non-sightholders and keeping prices artificially high at a non-competitive level.

Diamond mining expands

De Beers holds control of only 50% ofrepparttar 124196 roughs market

Diamond rising prices have stimulatedrepparttar 124197 exploration and mining in more countries such as Canada, Russia, Angola, India, Brazil. Nevertheless, about 40% of diamonds still come from Botswana and South Africa. De Beers' control onrepparttar 124198 rough diamond market was declared to have decreased from 70% to about 50%. Canada, Russia and West and Central Africa are considered by specialists an important potential diamond source. India and Brazil are prospected by geologists also due torepparttar 124199 fact that they are known to have been a diamond source inrepparttar 124200 past.

The largest diamond reserve of Africa lives in extreme poverty

Althoughrepparttar 124201 fourth largest producer inrepparttar 124202 world by value andrepparttar 124203 holder ofrepparttar 124204 largest diamond reserves in Africa. Angola's per capita gross national income GNI is estimated at $650 per annum. People' s main means of subsistence is agriculture. The diamond sector has been seriously affected byrepparttar 124205 long war and by gem smuggling. Yet it still represents a very important potential driver of economic development. Since 2002, whenrepparttar 124206 conflict betweenrepparttar 124207 government andrepparttar 124208 UNITA rebel movement ended, developingrepparttar 124209 sector has become a national priority andrepparttar 124210 government has already made changes torepparttar 124211 diamond sector regulations. Serious redevelopment and investment is needed in this area. At present, artisanal mining operates in Angola and it brings very little economic benefit to local communities.

Increasing conflict in Russia between diamond cutters and miners

The Russian company Alrosa isrepparttar 124212 largest diamond miner inrepparttar 124213 world outside De Beers. Diamond cutters accuse Alrosa of favoring exports and providing larger stones forrepparttar 124214 foreign market and offering only small-sized diamonds torepparttar 124215 internal market. Onrepparttar 124216 other hand, Alrosa says that cutters cannot be allowed to pickrepparttar 124217 assortment of size they want. The result is that Russian cutters are buying million dollars in rough stones from South Africa each month. Russian manufacturers had a production of $1.1 billion in 2003, and Alrosa is estimated to produce around $2 billion worth rough diamonds this year.

New Technology in Diamond Properties Analysis

Written by Laura Ciocan


Isee2 company has developed a technology that works as a retail selling aid allowing buyers to measurerepparttar beauty of a diamond beyond its classically graded properties.

A diamond's beauty is its selling quality and can differentiate between diamonds graded alike – that something that makes an exceptional diamond outshinerepparttar 124182 others. Isee2 technology can make such detail analysis.

How it works

The technology is based on a software that analyzesrepparttar 124183 diamond withrepparttar 124184 help of two devices: one measuringrepparttar 124185 cut quality aspects whilerepparttar 124186 other is a high power magnifier used to readrepparttar 124187 ionized inscription onrepparttar 124188 table of every Isee2 diamond.

The diamond is scanned by a camera that sendsrepparttar 124189 images to a computer which processes 48 different lighting positions during its calculations. Thus are made objective evaluations of:repparttar 124190 amount of light returned fromrepparttar 124191 diamond ,repparttar 124192 degree of contrast betweenrepparttar 124193 57 facets andrepparttar 124194 quality ofrepparttar 124195 cut (brilliance, scintillation and symmetry).

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