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Global Rough Diamond Production Since 1870 GLOBAL ROUGH DIAMOND PRODUCTION SINCE 1870 A. J. A. (Bram) Janse Data for global annual rough diamond production (both carat weight and value) from 1870 to 2005 were compiled and analyzed. Production statistics over this period are given for 27 dia- mond-producing countries, 24 major diamond mines, and eight advanced projects. Historically, global production has seen numerous rises—as new mines were opened—and falls—as wars, political upheavals, and financial crises interfered with mining or drove down demand. Production from Africa (first South Africa, later joined by South-West Africa [Namibia], then West Africa and the Congo) was dominant until the middle of the 20th century. Not until the 1960s did production from non-African sources (first the Soviet Union, then Australia, and now Canada) become impor- tant. Distinctions between carat weight and value affect relative importance to a significant degree. The total global production from antiquity to 2005 is estimated to be 4.5 billion carats valued at US$300 billion, with an average value per carat of $67. For the 1870–2005 period, South Africa ranks first in value and fourth in carat weight, mainly due to its long history of production. Botswana ranks second in value and fifth in carat weight, although its history dates only from 1970. Global production for 2001–2005 is approximately 840 million carats with a total value of $55 billion, for an average value per carat of $65. For this period, USSR/Russia ranks first in weight and second in value, but Botswana is first in value and third in weight, just behind Australia. lthough diamonds from alluvial deposits and Shor (2005). Assembling the data for annual glob- have been known since antiquity (figure 1), al rough diamond production (gem, near-gem, and A production from primary deposits (kimber- industrial) was a difficult task, because the numbers lites and, since 1985, lamproites) began only in the for several countries may vary more than 10% 1870s. Over the last 135 years or so, annual produc- between different publications. To achieve as much tion has risen from ~1 million carats (Mct) in 1872 consistency as possible, production figures were to 176.7 Mct in 2005, though this increase has been taken from sources that are believed to be reliable anything but smooth. Production has followed the and, for the most part, that were continuously pub- ups and downs of the world economy, with sudden lished in the United States. For the period increases brought about by new discoveries and just 1870–1934, these included The Mineral Industry as precipitous drops caused by political upheavals (from the Scientific Publishing Co.) and Mineral and similar events. An awareness of the production Resources of the United States (compiled by the U.S. figures for the modern history of diamond mining Bureau of Mines). For the period 1934–2005, data not only helps us understand the impact of both were taken from Minerals Yearbook (also by the U.S. political developments and geologic factors over Bureau of Mines). Wagner (1914) was consulted for time, but it also helps the exploration geologist, dia- early South African production. For 2004 and 2005, mantaire, and jeweler alike plan for future additions and disruptions to the supply chain. This article represents an expanded version of the See end of article for About the Author and Acknowledgments. data and illustrations previously published in Janse GEMS & GEMOLOGY, Vol. 43, No. 2, pp. 98–119. (2006a,b), and is a companion piece to Boyajian (1988) © 2007 Gemological Institute of America 98 GLOBAL DIAMOND PRODUCTION SINCE 1870 GEMS & GEMOLOGY SUMMER 2007 Figure 1. Diamonds have been valued since antiquity, but only since the late 19th cen- tury have they become an important element of the world economy. They were first known in India, and then Indonesia and Brazil, but it was the 1867 dis- covery in South Africa that would launch the modern diamond mar- ket. Though India is no longer an important producer, it remains an essential link in the dia- mond supply chain through its polishing and trading centers. Shown here is an Indian diamond and emerald necklace from the early 19th century. Courtesy of Christie’s Images. Kimberley Process Certification Scheme production Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Tanzania, reports were also used. A cut-off date of December Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, China, United States, 31, 2005, was selected because that is the most India, and Indonesia]); (2) percentage of total by coun- recent year for which robust data are available. try; (3) percentage by type of deposit; and (4) percent- Although 2006 production figures for some mines age by category of diamond. The first three cate- have been released as of the date of publication of gories are further divided according to carat weight this article (mid-2007), incorporating them would dis- and U.S. dollar value of production. tort the overall picture, as Kimberley Process data for In the second part of the article, data are given 2006 have not yet been released. Figures for produc- regarding the ownership, location, size, and other tion data are necessarily best estimates compiled aspects of the 24 historically most important dia- from the most reliable sources, but the trend and mond mines and eight major advanced diamond amplitude of changes in production and cumulative projects currently in development. In the third part, totals are considered by the author to be as close to data are provided for historic and contemporary pro- reality as possible. duction for the 27 most significant diamond-pro- In the first part of this article, data are presented ducing countries through 2005. in a series of graphs illustrating: (1) annual produc- tion by country (divided into 10 groups: eight major source countries, one region [West Africa, including ANNUAL PRODUCTION BY COUNTRY Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, and By Carat Weight. Historically, production has been as Ghana], and one group representing other and minor much a function of changes in demand as it has been producers [including Lesotho, Swaziland, Rhodesia/ of the introduction or closure of mining operations. GLOBAL DIAMOND PRODUCTION SINCE 1870 GEMS & GEMOLOGY SUMMER 2007 99 Figure 2 shows the annual production (by weight) of WWI. Production resumed after the war but did not rough diamonds for the 10 most important diamond- reach the 1 Mct mark again until 1962. It reached 2 producing regions from 1870 to 2005; more detail is Mct in the late 1960s and again in the 1970s, but provided below. For the most part, the regions are dis- then dropped to 0.9 Mct in the late 1980s. Production cussed and plotted chronologically by date of earliest increased to 1.5 million in the 1990s, and in 2005 it production; South Africa is introduced first as it is his- amounted to 1.87 Mct. torically the most important. Congo/Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo South Africa. After mining of diamonds began in (DRC). The 1932–80 period was the heyday (in 1869, South African production rose rapidly to 1 Mct terms of its share of world production) for this in 1872 and thereafter to 5 Mct in 1907, in 1909, and region. Congo production began in 1917 and reached in 1913, with a few peaks and dips during this peri- 18 Mct annually in 1961. After independence in od. A dip in 1900 was due to the Boer War and the 1960, it eventually declined to less than half that by Siege of Kimberley. A peak in 1907 in response to 1981; however, it rose to 26 Mct in 1998. The fall of rapidly growing U.S. demand was not reached again then-President Mobuto Sese Seko and the ensuing until 1966; it was followed by a sharp dip in 1908 unrest led to a brief decline. Conditions stabilized in due to a financial crisis in the U.S., and then produc- 2001, as Joseph Kabila took over from his assassinat- tion went back up again the next year. A steep drop ed father, and diamond production rose again to in 1914 and 1915 was caused by World War I (WWI), around 30 Mct in 2005. but then production rose quickly and stayed at a moderate level from 1916 to 1920. In 1921–22, pro- Angola. Production began in 1921, but not until 1969 duction fell again due to a general depression in the did it reach 2 Mct, where it stayed until 1974. From economy (the aftereffects of WWI and the 1918–19 1975 to 1995, production saw many ups and downs flu pandemic) as well as a sudden influx of jewelry due to the country’s protracted internal unrest. After on the market due to the combination of Russian conditions improved in 1995 and the Catoca mine émigrés from the Bolshevik revolution having to sell came on stream in 1998, official annual production their valuables to survive just as the new Soviet gov- reached 3 Mct in 1999. Still, estimates by Cilliers and ernment was selling confiscated jewels (Janse, 1996). Dietrich (2000) indicate that, during the 1990s, Beginning in 1923, South African production rose “informal” production was much higher than the again in response to the discovery of the Lichtenburg official figures, accounting for more than twice the alluvial field and the Namaqualand beach deposits official production in 1996 and 1997. Some sources along the Atlantic coast, but it was extremely low estimate that the total of official production plus from 1932 to 1944 as a result of the Great Depression UNITA’s smuggled production reached close to $1 of the 1930s and the impact of World War II. The billion in 1996 (Partnership Africa Canada, 2004a).
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