As I understand, the company DeBeers controls most of the natural diamond production in the world. So much so that they’re basically a monopoly. They also control how much is available for retail sale, keeping the prices high.
Aren’t there international monopoly laws that apply to them?
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
If there are such laws, wouldn’t they certainly apply to OPEC too?
You are unique.
Just like everyone else.
There are no such things as “international laws”. The only forms of “law” between the nations are (A) treaties, and (B) threat of armed force.
The best way to bust open the DeBeers monopoly would be to create synthetic diamonds that were indistinguishable from the real thing. PBS’s Nova did a show on that very subject last week (well, they showed it last week on my local PBS station), and it looks like we’re getting really close.
30 years from now, we might look back on the whole era of “go into debt buying your girl a diamond” as a quaint little period of collective idiocy.
I don’t think synthetic diamonds would bust the DeBeers monopoly (at least not very quickly). For one thing, DeBeers is one of the key players in synthetic diamond R&D- if anyone comes up with (cheap) gem-grade diamonds, it will probably be them.
DeBeers doesn’t have a monopoly because diamonds are rare, it has a monopoly because it controls a large fraction of the world’s diamond mines. As soon as a new mine is discovered, they’re in there negotiating a deal with the owner (if they weren’t the first ones there, which they often are). This same process would happen if a company came up with a synthetic diamond process- DeBeers would try to get a deal with them. Why would you make a deal with DeBeers? They control a big part of the diamond distribution chain, and they can absorb a large amount of rough diamonds to keep demand high, thus they can offer a lucrative package.
DeBeers sets worldwide rough diamond prices, which in turn controls cut diamond prices. It does this by tightly controlling the supply. At times, they stockpile enormous amounts of rough diamonds, waiting for demand to go up. There is some disagreement in the jewelry trade whether this is good or bad, but it does tend to even out price fluctuations (sort of like the US government buying milk, etc. to even out prices, and help farmers.)
DeBeers can be affected by anti-monopoly laws to an extent- that’s one reason there is no US DeBeers office.
Arjuna34
Thanx, Arjuna34. That’s just the answer I was looking for.
Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You’ll find it an effective combination.
Debeers also uses its horde of uncut diamonds as muscle in the industry. Should a non-DeBeers controlled mine wish to sell their diamonds outside of their (DeBeers) distribution network, DeBeers has the ability to flood the market with similar stones thereby driving down the price of said stones. As the profit from selling one’s stones through DeBeers is artificially higher, it makes good business sense to agree to work with them, on their terms, and under their control. I hope that made sense.
Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places
if you look at it right…
From what I understand, Australia has done a pretty good job of keeping DeBeers out of its diamond mines, and I heard that Russia is slowly rebelling against them after striking up contracts during the USSR era. On the other hand, a lot of Australia’s diamonds are industrial types, not jewelry quality (and the somewhat amusing ‘champagne’ diamond which is a nice way of saying “it’s brown”).
In the good ole U.S. of A., DeBeers is represented by Ayer’s who I’m assuming is responsible for those commercials with the gift giving shadows. I also saw some 20/20 special a billion and a half years ago that said that a few times a year, DeBeers sells off lots of diamonds in controlled quanities to wholesalers. If you’re invited, you get to go, be shown a lot of diamonds and then be given a price. You can either buy them or say no. If you say no, you’re shown the door and not invited back which makes it fairly hard to stay in the diamond wholesaling game. Sounds like a mean ole place to work for, but I wouldn’t be above perhaps marrying into the DeBeers family 
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
The DeBeers diamond sales (bourses) are held in London 10 times a year. There’s no haggling over price or lot contents (you either buy it or don’t), but I do think you can choose from more than one lot (although they’re meticulously graded into categories, so within a category, the lots are pretty much identical. I don’t think refusing to buy any lots automatically gets you off the “invite list”, but it’s very hard to get on the list to start with. Usually, buyers are grumbling more about the lack of goods (from DeBeers holding back) than having to buy goods.
Arjuna34
Not a chance, and not just because DeBeers would likely be the ones to finally get them so the gem-quality ones are practical to manufacture. We have synthetic rubies, emerald, sapphires, alexandrite, amethysts etc. that are chemically indistiguishable from their natural brethren. However, the prices of natural stones has not dropped appreciably. People don’t just buy the look of a diamond or the chemical composition of a diamond; they buy the prestige and the legend of a diamond. Man-made stones just don’t have that. Incidentally, they have fracture-filled diamonds that come with a lifetime guarantee, look indistinguishable from naturally flawless stones, and are about 30% less than the wholly natural sort…but what man would buy a flawed-but-well-diguised stone for his fiance? Think about the symbolism there. Fracture-filled stones just never really took off, I suspect fro this very reason.
I also doubt whether any synthetic process will ever be able to be completely indistiguishable from natural processes. I don’t know if there’s a true replacement for the time and pressure involved in making a natural stone. The current synthetics are darn hard to tell the difference from naturals, but with proper equipment you can see the subtle signs. Even if there was a way to make the synthetics indistiguishable, I suspect they’d just certify the natural stones more rigorously. It’s prestige you’re buying, really, not the diamond.
“It’s like I always said…there’s nothing an agnostic can’t do if he really doesn’t know whether he believes in anything or not” --Monty Python, “The Meaning of Life”
You are correct, Gaudere, we women want the real thing, precious natural stones painstakingly extracted from the earth by toiling peasants! I have a real emerald ring that would knock your eye out, with natural flaws, and I wouldn’t change it for a “perfect” synthetic if you pointed a gun at me…
About the brownish diamonds from Australia, isn’t there some way to change the color? I know blue topaz start out brownish and are put in a nuclear reactor or some such thing to change the color.
I already think that way. There’s no way she can tell if it’s synthetic, even if she takes it to your local jeweler. If it’s a quality fake, that is.
Buy her a fake and take her to the Bahamas. I don’t think she’ll complain.
Peace,
mangeorge
I only know two things;
I know what I need to know
And
I know what I want to know
Mangeorge, 2000
Not with diamonds, no, but quite a few stones are heat-treated to inprove the color (you’re emerald wouldn’t have been; they’re much too fragile). And the “industrial grade” diamonds are a dirty yellow or grayish and heavily flawed, not brown; true brown and yellow stones have been valued colors in diamonds for a while. “Cognac” diamonds are dark brown, “Champagne” diamonds are light brown, and “Canary” diamonds are yellow. They’re trying to make them more acceptable to the masses, but fancy-color diamonds are not crappy stones fobbed off on a gullible public. You want to see crappy stones, check out the godawful color and clarity in the diamonds in those cheesy mall stores. Diamonds can be red (rarest), blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, brown, black and white.
I didn’t mean to imply that all brown diamonds were industrial grade stones, rather that Australia happens to be home of both. I’ve no idea what color an industrial grade diamons is, but I presume it’s more a matter of stone clarity and flaws than color.
Likewise, I’m sure there are some wonderfully clear and flawless brown stones, but c’mon… who’d give their gal a brown rock? The Aussies can give their mudstones all the clever names they’d like, but in the end no one chooses a “champagne” diamond as their first stone purchase. Rather, they’re mainly sold to wealthy people looking for something unusual.
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Alright, I’ll let you off the hook then, Jophiel. 
Why wouldn’t someone pick a champange diamond for their first purchase? A lot of people really like the unusual, and a nice champagne diamond set off with some white diamonds can be quite stunning. Heck, I’ve never really understood the appeal of heart-shaped diamonds–I think they’re ugly, cheesy and overpriced, but some people love 'em. I’d pick a champagne diamond in a pretty setting over a heart-shaped stone any day.
:::Hoping I don’t draw Gaudere’s name in the Straight Dope Moderator Secret Santa this year:::
Livin’ on Tums, vitamin E and Rogaine
Um, red diamonds are called rubies, blue diamonds are called sapphires and green diamonds are called emeralds. The color is a result of impurities in the carbon that makes up the diamonds.
Industrial diamonds are used in things like drills, blades and as tools to cut other diamonds. A large number of industrial diamonds come from South America (Brazil I think) and are jet black.
In silicon microchips, the silicon is arranged in the same crystal lattice as carbon is in a diamond. Scientists are working diligently to perfect a technique of diamond mass-production so they can start making diamond microchips. Because the carbon atom is much smaller than the silicon atom the transistors will be that much closer together and therefore that much faster. No, it isn’t a big difference, but when multiplied by a couple billion times per second almost any distance becomes significant.
[asskissing] Lastly, that “Moderator” looks good on you G. It’s almost a perfect underline. [/asskissing]
Ummm… wrong.
Diamonds are essentially pure carbon ©.
Emeralds are forms of Beryl (Be3 Al2 Si6 O18) “tainted” with chromium and iron.
Sapphires are Corundum (Al2 O3). A red sapphire is a Ruby (again “tainted” with chromium).
Dimaond color may be caused by impurities in the carbon, but they are nowhere near emeralds or sapphires (or rubies).
“I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.”
Thank you, Jophiel. You are wholly forgiven for your slurs against champagne diamonds and are back on my “favorite poster” list.
inertia, if you didn’t throw in your asskissing I would flame your butt for saying blue diamonds are sapphires (I suppose the Hope Diamond is just a big-ass sapphire)? Fortunately for you, you did. <font size-1>But you might want to do a little more research next time.</font>
Ummm… wrong some more
I think the main interest in diamond semiconductors isn’t because of the size of the carbon atom and the silicon atom, but because of the thermal conductivity of diamond. Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any known material, yet it is an insulator (most thermally conductive materials are also good electrical conductors). With doping, diamond can be made into a semiconductor. In addition, diamond’s thermal coefficient of expansion is very small, so if it does get hot, it doesn’t expand much.
Given all that, if you somehow made a semiconductor device (such as a power transistor, or computer chip) out of diamond instead of silicon, you’d be able to run it at very high power (i.e. faster), because you could get the heat out of it very quickly (the silicon device would get too hot).
This is why GE is a pioneer in artificial diamonds.
BTW, thanks for the infusion of facts into the discussion, Jophiel
Arjuna34
BTW, I believe the PBS special said that DeBeers is indeed in Australia.
The pitch to the diamond miner is simple: play by our rules and get rich, fight us and your particular kind of stones won’t be worth a damn. Your choice.