Diamonds are precious stones that have a clear and colorless crystalline form of carbon. The arrangement of the C-atoms in the lattice gives the precious stone its wonderful properties. Diamonds come in different types. For example, they may come as white, champagne, pink champagne, yellow, blue, green, purple, and synthetic diamonds. The precious stones are vital in the making of jewelry and it also earns foreign exchange for countries that produce diamonds. The leading consumers of diamond jewelry are the United States, India, China, the EU, Japan, Hong Kong, and the Middle East region. Russia is home to 50% of the globe’s largest diamond mines.
The African region is home to about 40% of the globe’s diamond reserves. Several African states produce diamonds in large quantities. Here is a list of the top countries that deal with a large capacity of diamond production.
#1 Guinea
Guinea has big reserves of the precious mineral. There are over 35 million carats of proven reserves and more than 450m carats of probable reserves. Diamond deposits of Guinea are mainly in the Banankoro-Sefadou region. In 2014, the country produced over 150,000 carats of the precious stone. Guinea is an active participant in the Kimberly Process.
#2 Tanzania
Diamonds in TZ are in the Williamson diamond mine. The Petra diamonds through Williamson Diamonds Limited possess over 70% of ownership rights over the mine. The government of Tanzania owns the remaining percentage. According to Petra Diamonds, the Williamson mine has big diamond resources for about 38m carats. Last year, the production of the mineral reached 400,000 carats.
#3 Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone is the 8th biggest diamond-producing state in the continent. It improved its diamond production by more than 15% in the H1 of 2016. According to a local newspaper, the production of the precious stone in the first half of 2016 was over 200,000 carats at over $100m. Currently, it produces over 700,000 carats of diamonds annually. The exports of the mineral are the state’s biggest contributor to its GDP. Some of the exports come from the small-scale miners.
#4 Lesotho
Lesotho has colorful diamonds that do not have nitrogen in them. The mineral contributes more than 8% of the nation’s gross domestic product. In 2016, the country opened more than 3 new mines. Gem Diamonds Ltd and the government of Lesotho own the Letseng diamond mine, the globe’s highest diamond mine.
#5 Namibia
Diamond mining in the state began in 1908. The Namibian diamond industry has a value of more than a billion dollars and the diamonds have a value of $600 per carat. The diamonds in Namibia come from the ocean. The Namdeb Diamond Corporation does all the diamond mining activities in the country.
#6 Zimbabwe
The country is one of the top 10 producers of diamonds in the globe. The Marange diamond fields are a region of small-scale diamond production in Zimbabwe. The field is the biggest diamond producing project in the globe. It produced over 16m carats in 2013, 12m in 2012, 8.7 million in 2011, and over 8.1 million carats in 2010.
#7 South Africa
SA is the origin of today’s diamond industry that commenced way back in the 1870s. In 2018 the country’s diamond production totaled to almost 10m carats, making it the globe’s 6th biggest diamond producer.
#8 Angola
Diamond mining started in the country over a century ago. By 2018 the Angolan diamond mining industry was worth $7.5 billion. The chief executive officer of the country’s national diamond company said that over 85% of diamonds remain undiscovered in the country. As of today, the state is one of the globe’s leading diamond producers based on value and capacity. The Lucapa Diamond Company owns the Lulo mine. It’s an alluvial mine that produces the globe’s biggest type 2 diamonds which are colorless. Other diamonds from the mine have an attractive pink color.
#9 The Democratic Republic of Congo
Diamonds in the country are many and the colors vary from yellow to brown. The precious stones are difficult to reach due to the sedimentary layer’s cover of over 30 meters. The DRC produces millions of carats annually.
#10 Botswana
It is the highest diamond-producing state in Africa and the 2nd globally. Exploration of diamonds began in the 1950s and mining commenced in 1971.
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