Author: Janine Roberts

ISBN: 0971394296

The following review was contributed by: Paul Lappen & CLICK TO VIEW Paul Lappen's Reviews

This book takes a much-needed look inside the diamond
business. The myth is that diamonds are so expensive
at the local jewelry store because they are very rare.
Nothing could be farther from the truth.

South Africa is one of the world's major diamond
producers. Conditions for the black miners inside the
mines can best be described as barbaric. The miners
are locked in the mine compound for months at a time,
supposedly to protect against diamond theft. Among
other things, protective gear is rare or nonexistent,
and their pay is microscopic. Apartheid is alive and
well in the South Africa diamond mines. In places
where diamonds have been found, like the Australian
Outback, Botswana and northern Canada, indigenous
rights are trampled like they don't exist.

During World War II, America had a very hard time
getting sufficient supplies of industrial diamonds
from DeBeers, the cartel that still controls much of
the world's diamond trade. It got to the point where
the US threatened to stop all shipments of fighter
planes to England unless the British used their
influence with DeBeers to ease the restrictions. The
Germans, however, had much less trouble getting
industrial diamonds from DeBeers.

DeBeers drives up the price of diamonds by simply
keeping them off the market, or stockpiling them. It's
common to cut production at a certain mine, or close
it completely, in order to keep that type of diamond
off the market. Ownership of the various pieces of
DeBeers is shuttled around through a seemingly
infinite number of shell corporations, most of which
are little more than a nameplate on a door of a
building in the Cayman Islands or Switzerland. Among
other reasons, it's done to reduce the company's tax
bill, and the fee paid to the government where the
mine is located, as much as possible. If a government
wants to change the extremely unfair (for them)
payment system, DeBeers floods the market with
diamonds from that country, depressing the price.

The book spends time looking at the role of diamonds
in recent African wars, like the 1970s war in Angola,
and the ongoing war in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, in which America was deeply involved. Last but
not least, did you know that there was a working
diamond mine in the American state of Arkansas?

This is a major eye-opener. It is a very detailed
investigative piece, the likes of which are rarely
seen these days. Diamonds are a girl's best friend?
Not after reading this highly recommended book.