Diamonds are forever .

          

Hi, I am Nikitha Akula, an aspiring operations enthusiast currently doing my 2nd year MBA in Amrita School of business.Today I am going to explain the diamond manufacturing process.

A diamond in its original form is valuable. The ending piece of diamond jewellery, the highly sought-after product, is worth much more. Information about the secretive diamond industry is not well-known, nor is it well understood how diamonds have become a source of great value. To transform the discovered diamond deposits mixed in with dirt and rock fragments, diamonds must go through a series of processes. The diamond supply chain starts with searching for diamond process, mining, sorting, cutting, and polishing, jewellery creation, regulation, and the selling of the final product.

 

Diamonds are valued in almost every culture on the planet. They were first mined in India over four thousand years ago. Diamonds are thought to be an ever-lasting sign of love that will never decrease in value. In the late 1940s, the De Beers Company, a leader in the diamond industry, created the advertising slogan, “A diamond is forever.” Diamonds are the hardest substance known on earth, so hard that the only material that can cut them is another diamond. The four main optical characteristics of diamonds are: transparency, lustre, dispersion of light, and colour. In its pure carbon form, a diamond is completely clear and transparent.

 

Diamonds exist in three main forms of deposits: kimberlite, lamproite, and placer deposits. Most form at a depth of about 90 miles beneath the surface of the earth. Volcanic activity carries these formed diamonds to the earth’s surface. Most diamonds today are found in Australia, Botswana, Zaire, South Africa, Russia, Angola, and Namibia.

Supply Chain process:

Step 1: DIAMONDS EXPLORATION AND EXCAVATION PROCESS:

Diamonds are excavated from the earth via five main types on mining- artisanal mining, hard rock mining, marine mining, open pit mining, and placer mining. The diamond withdrawal methods vary depending on: (1) how the minerals are situated within the earth, (2) the steadiness of the material neighbouring the preferred mineral, and (3) the nonessential damage done to the surrounding environment.

Artisanal diamond mining, the most basic form of mining, involves digging and sifting through mud or gravel river-bank deposits. Little equipment and no technology are needed to mine but hard labour, and long hours are necessary. “Diamond diggers” work with their bare hands, shovels, and sieves.

Hard rock mining a technique in which miners build tunnel underground and create underground rooms held up by rock. A shaft and a decline are used to access the rooms. Hard rock mining requires more specialized equipment than artisanal mining

Vertical marine mining uses a 6 to 7-meter diameter drill head to cut into the seabed and suck up the diamond bearing material from the seabed. Marine mining requires still more specialized equipment than hard rock mining.

Open pit mining involves extracting rock from the ground by taking away from an open pit or hole. Open pit mining is used when deposits of minerals are found near the surface.

Placer mining requires that miners used water pressure, special surface excavating equipment, or digging by hand to excavate the diamonds.

The exploration, excavation, and mining process represent a highly specialized step in the diamond supply chain. New mining technology continues to be developed in order to make the exploration and mining process easier.

 

Step 2: DIAMOND SORTING PROCESS

After the mining process, diamonds are sold to wholesalers, who sort the rough diamonds based on 16,000 individual categories of shape, colour, size, and carat.

The sorting process, like all processes in the diamond supply chain, represents a valuable step in the creation of retail diamond jewellery. The wholesalers select diamonds based on demand and good choices in the diamond materials now translates into good, quality piece of diamond jewellery further along the supply chain.

 

Step 3: DIAMOND CUTTING AND POLISHING

The extreme hardness of diamonds requires that no other material, except other diamonds, can cut a diamond. Thus, diamond cutting calls for highly specialized artisans, tools, equipment, and techniques.

The main diamond cutting centres are found in Antwerp and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Johannesburg, South Africa, New York, the United States, and Tel Aviv, Israel. Due to the low cost of labour, diamond cutting centres have also been set up in China, India, and Thailand. The cutting centre in Gujarat, India handles many small diamonds due to the cheap labour costs.

Diamonds must present the perfect cut, as the cut adds a great deal of value to the diamond. This highly specialized stage in the supply chain represents the last stage in the processing of the raw materials. At this point, the diamonds must now be distributed to wholesalers and from there to retailers.

 

Step 4: DIAMONDS EXCHANGES-BOURSES

Once the diamonds have been properly cut and polished, the diamonds are then sold on diamond exchanges called bourses. There are currently 28 registered bourses in the world. The diamonds may be sold as loose diamonds or as diamonds already set in jewelry.

The World Federation of Diamond Bourses (WFDB) was founded in 1947 to unite and to provide bourses trading in rough and polished diamonds and precious stones, with a common set of trading practices.

Step 5: The final step, diamonds in retail stores.

Retailers may purchase loose diamonds directly from the bourses or diamonds may be purchased after they have been set into jewellery. Jewellery has become a leading retail industry.

 

Conclusion:

Over 70% of the diamond market is controlled by the De Beers Company that has production and purchase agreements with most of the diamond producing countries. Over the last 140 years De Beers managed to keep diamonds an expensive luxury product through hoarding diamonds or buying up supplies from other mines to keep them off the market and strategically suppressing production. In recent years Indian jewellers are the world’s biggest source of polished diamonds. India exports 80 percent of diamonds quantity that accounts for 55 percent of dollar value of the polished diamond market Diamonds and jewellery are demanded globally, and mangers must make sure that all members in the supply chain perform their job.