Human rights violations - nobody wants to fix it!
Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
91–100 of 130 posts
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#92I currently live in Sierra Leone working as a software dev, and just came back from an evening jog around the largest diamond mine in West Africa. It's crazy how much pain an misery diamonds have caused to this country. The citizens here in Koidu don't get any of the income of the diamonds, and live it extreme poverty... Meanwhile the guys from De Beers are living bougie lives in their maximum security compounds, wit…
> The citizens here in Koidu don't get any of the income of the diamonds. Surely the issue of where and how minimg licences and sales revenue is distributed in SL, is something the folk of Koidu should take up with their government. As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities.
> As with any company anyehere, De Beers pays the share they are obliged to to the authorities
BP and Facebook aren't paying their share of taxes in the USA, do you think De Beers is going to do so in Sierra Leone?
The only difference is there are just enough tax dollars in the US to make life tolerable for the masses - cheap beer & cigarettes, sports on TV and elementary education.
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#93Fantastic article. Before you make a comment about the diamond industry, read the whole thing. I’ve had the same view, but this article moved me. Also, the audio version is wonderfully read. Recommended.
As always, beware that the article might be biased. I don't think it is too tinfoil to suspect that the diamond industry does good PR.
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#94We should crowdfund a PR campaign that diamonds are synonyms for death and exploitation, and it’s more humane for “any gem but a diamond”. A $10 million campaign or so, targeting youth especially, can have tremendous impacts on future generations.
I think you'd need to replace the diamond / expensive jewelry thing with something that appeals to the younger generation. I am not in that generation so I am not sure what that would be, but here is an idea.
The diamond idea is based on having something that resembles luxury, like yachts and expensive champagne. It was initial marketed on the idea that you only love someone if you sacrifice your salary for a month or two to buy a ring. We can keep that concept (because that'll be tough to change) but shift the object:
Somehow we want to make all that kind of stuff look morally disgusting, i.e. private jets with CO2 emissions that help kill the planet and people with floods and fires, and rich snobs spending money on pearls when they could be donating to charity. Another 2008 crisis which will happen like clockwork would be a great wave to surf for getting momentum behind the idea. More homeless middle class and rich bankers will make people angry.
The idea is to make luxury and opulence (but not necessary money) seem bad to the middle class, in the same way as advocating slavery would seem bad.
Then the replacement could be a donation to the charity that the receiver of the engagement ring chooses. The ring could be a simple 18ct gold band or gold plated. It could be 3D printed from an unusual material. Doesn't matter that it costs $50 or whatever, it's now just a symbol, it could have imprinted on it the cause that was donated to.
The $10M would be spent on seed funding for a company to sell this kind of product, because then it's profits can be reinvested in marketing it further, rather than the "1 superbowl ad" that someone else mentioned in jest.
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was fortunate enough to discover moissanite. Wife loves it, and the price was somewhere in the ballpark of 90-95% cheaper than an equivalent size diamond. The added benefit is, everyone thinks it’s a diamond and we haven’t yet felt the need to correct them...
I also went with moissanite. My wife (then girlfriend) was in the "2-3 months salary for a diamond" camp which I find incredibly crass. Saved $15k on the diamond by going with moissanite and spent a fraction of that on getting a nice custom ring + wedding band made by an independent local jeweler instead. I was happy to support a local craftsman rather than DeBeers & co.
2-3 months of salary for me would be a substantial contribution towards a deposit for a flat.My fiancé would smack my face if I'd spend it on a shining rock )
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you tell her about the nature of the stone ? That sounds like a disaster to come if she doesn't know, and she learns it by going to the jeweler to clean / repair the stone.
Life Pro-Tip: don't marry a woman that will feel unvalued by the stone in the wedding ring. Spend the money in something better and that will further the relationship, like the honeymoon.
>>Spend the money in something better and that will further the relationship, like the honeymoon.
Honeymoon's over. Ever heard that? I was thinking more in the buy a home or invest in stocks
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you tell her about the nature of the stone ? That sounds like a disaster to come if she doesn't know, and she learns it by going to the jeweler to clean / repair the stone.
Life Pro-Tip: don't marry a woman that will feel unvalued by the stone in the wedding ring. Spend the money in something better and that will further the relationship, like the honeymoon.
Better yet, stick it in an index tracker fund for 30 years and when you’re 60 you’ll have a million in the bank.
Which you won’t spend anyway because you’ll have nothing and no one to spend it on. But smugness and pride are truly priceless.
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
"synthetic" diamonds with far fewer impurities are far cheaper than "natural" diamonds of the same size. The goalpost will always move because the things used to justify it are excuses and not real reasons.
Even De Beers announced they would start selling synthetics.
de beers is doing it as a pr move, selling them as 'budget' diamonds as an attempt to devalue them
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Synthetic diamond will eventually become so easy the industry won't be able to supress it anymore. The collapse will be interesting, in the bloddy sense of the term I suspect.
Synthetic diamonds are not easy to produce and they take time and energy (literally). The only reason synthetics are made is because the price of real diamonds help prop up the price of artificial ones. If the market collapses, as you predict, than artificial diamonds don’t become economical to create any more. My prediction: new mines will continue to be found and real diamonds will have the same market hold they ha…
Research on bulk synthesis of diamond will continue for the foreseeable future, it's just too important a manufacturing material. It will be a massive win for thermal engineering when semiconductor chips can easily be embedded in a diamond matrix.
Re: Shaking Up the Diamond Industry
#100I still wish I'd discovered Moissanite before I got married. The rock would have been multiples larger and I'd have the satisfaction of not contributing to a monopolistic and exploitative industry.
>>The rock would have been multiples larger
and that beats the purpose: "how much did you pay for that diamond. Must've cost a fortune." The idea is not wear something bigger, if it's cheaper