To: Famularo who wrote (6349 ) 10/16/1998 6:27:00 PM From: Jesse Read Replies (1) | Respond to
You bet, Frank! You too! -- Someone was asking re. gem vs. industrial diamonds on one of these ADP threads (I'm in a bit of a hurry here), and so I thought I'd throw out a few links for them to chase. If you know where I read that Frank, you could link to it if you want! ;^)bullion.org.za Only some 15 to 20 per cent of the world's diamond production is gem quality; the rest is destined for industrial use. Natural-diamond 'industrials' - 'boart' - (along with synthetic diamonds) are required by the modern world for their hardness in cutting; sawing; wire-drawing; drilling purposes, mainly in the masonry, mining and oil businesses; and for grinding and polishing in the engineering industry. In many applications diamonds, indeed, are indispensable: without them many high-technology industries simply would not exist. vigen.com.au diamondcutters.com amnh.org Eighty percent of the diamonds mined annually are used in industry; 4 times that production is grown synthetically for industry - that's a total of over 500 million carats or 100 metric tons... niceice.com amnh.org There are two aspects of moving diamonds from mine to dealer. The first is the fairly straightforward but important task of separating diamonds into gem-quality, near gem-quality, and industrial-grade diamonds. The second is the more intriguing aspect: the primary diamond marketing, which has been and still is largely controlled by De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. through its majority control of the Central Selling Organization (CSO). The CSO sells a large percentage of mine production to diamond dealers; independent mines sell by closed bids and through private transactions... globaldiamond.com goldsheet.simplenet.com white-diamonds.com
