Knowledge Nugget: What are ‘blood diamonds’ and why does the Kimberley Process matter?

2. The discussion is ongoing on implementation of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS), monitoring and compliance mechanisms, artisanal and alluvial diamond production, statistics and measures aimed at strengthening trust in the natural diamond value chain.

3. The KPCS is the mechanism the KP uses to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. Launched in 2003, it is enforced individually by KP Participant countries to ensure that rough diamonds in the legitimate supply chain are KP-compliant.

In 2003, KP introduced the KPCS as a mechanism to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds. (Source: KP/image created using AI)

4. At present, the Kimberley Process has 60 participants representing 86 countries, with the European Union and its Member States participating as a single bloc.

5. ‘Conflict diamonds’, also known as blood diamonds, are the rough diamonds mined and used by rebel movements or their allies to finance armed conflicts aimed at undermining legitimate governments.

6. The terms entered global discourse during the 1990s when international attention turned to the role of diamonds in financing violence in African countries like Angola, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Liberia, etc.

7. The ease of extracting alluvial diamonds, combined with limited monitoring and cross-border smuggling, allowed these stones to move into legitimate supply chains.

8. To address the issue of blood diamonds, the South African government convened a meeting at Kimberley in 2000. It brought together the World Diamond Council, diamond-producing states, and civil society organisations.

9. The KP is a voluntary agreement that provides a set of minimum requirements to be implemented by the participating countries towards ensuring a common standard for trade in conflict-free diamonds.

10. Under the agreement, every shipment of rough diamonds between the participating countries must be accompanied by a KP certificate, which guarantees that diamonds are conflict-free. The KP is a commitment to remove conflict diamonds from the global supply chain. Today, participants actively prevent 99.8% of the worldwide trade, as per the KP.

Diamond

1. Diamond composition is pure carbon. In diamonds, each carbon atom is bonded to four other carbon atoms, forming a rigid three-dimensional structure. It is the hardest natural substance known and has a very high melting and boiling point.

2. It has special optical properties such as a high index of refraction, high dispersion, and an adamantine luster. These properties make diamonds the world’s most popular gemstone.

3. Diamond occurs in two types of deposits, primarily in igneous rocks of basic or ultrabasic composition and in alluvial deposits derived from the primary sources.

4. According to the Indian Minerals Yearbook 2022, the diamond fields of India are grouped into four regions:

(i) South Indian tract of Andhra Pradesh, comprising parts of Anantapur, Kadapa, Guntur, Krishna, Mahabubnagar and Kurnool districts;

(ii) Central Indian tract of Madhya Pradesh, comprising Panna belt;

(iii) Behradin–Kodawali area in Raipur district and Tokapal, Dugapal, etc. areas in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh; and

(iv) Eastern Indian tract, mostly of Odisha, lying between Mahanadi and Godavari valleys.

5. Russia (46%) has the largest reserve of industrial diamonds, followed by Botswana (23%), Congo (Kinshasa) (12%), South Africa (9%) and Australia (1%). The world reserves of industrial diamond are about 1,300 million carats, as per Indian Minerals Yearbook.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: Lab-grown diamonds

1. In the Union Budget 2023, the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the government’s move to focus on lab-grown diamonds.

2. Lab-grown diamonds are diamonds that are produced using specific technology which mimics the geological processes that grow natural diamonds. They are not the same as “diamond simulants” – LGDs are chemically, physically and optically diamond and thus are difficult to identify as “lab-grown.”

3. While materials such as Moissanite, Cubic Zirconia (CZ), White Sapphire, YAG, etc. are “diamond simulants” that simply attempt to “look” like a diamond, they lack the sparkle and durability of a diamond and are thus easily identifiable.

4. As the name suggests, this method requires extremely heavy presses that can produce up to 730,000 psi of pressure under extremely high temperatures (at least 1500 celsius). Usually graphite is used as the “diamond seed” and when subjected to these extreme conditions, the relatively inexpensive form of carbon turns into one of the most expensive carbon forms.

5. Other processes include “Chemical Vapor Deposition” (CVD) and explosive formation that creates what are known as “detonation nanodiamonds”.

6. CVD requires relatively low pressure for production of synthetic diamonds. This process involves depositing tiny crystals of diamond on a film which can be built in complicated shapes and used at desired places or instruments, such as, machine part, heat conductors in micro circuit, shortwave UV, microwave sources and radiation detectors.

7. As the Earth’s reserves of natural diamonds are depleted, LGDs are slowly replacing the prized gemstone in the jewelry industry. Crucially, like natural diamonds, LGDs undergo similar processes of polishing and cutting that are required to provide diamonds their characteristic lustre.

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements:

1. The System of Warranties (SoW) was launched by KP to prevent the trade of conflict diamonds.

2. India has assumed the chairmanship of the KP for 2026.

Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) 1 and 2

(d) None of the above

(Sources: How India seeks to strengthen global diamond governance, worlddiamondcouncil.org, Indian Mines Yearbook, kimberleyprocess.com, What are lab-grown diamonds, mentioned by FM Nirmala Sitharaman?)

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