Are diamonds actually as rare as they are cracked up to be?

Question

I have heard from at LEAST two of my college professors that the diamond rarity is basically a scam of ignorance to the population. Anyone have any facts that they can point me to?

Answer 1

no they are just really expensive to make

Answer 2

africa

Answer 3

Consumers of diamonds really do not want to see their 'investment' value declining.  To give consumers confidence to invest in these baubles, just like currency, someone has to be restricting the flow onto the market.

In the same way, Gold is not very scarce. Other than for public and private hording it would be much cheaper. But those who buy gold as well, do not hanker for a declining price for gold. Rather they are elated to see its price in an inflationary spiral.

We can blame suppliers for restricting the flow of these things into the market, but it is the buyers who insist on this.

Answer 4

the amount of jewelry grade diamonds mined is tightly controlled. and basically held till the price is right.

and only about 2 % mined are jewelry grade.

98% of the diamonds mined are industrial grade and used for metal cutting and polishing.

http://books.google.com/books?id=raO8jHB...

Answer 5

Diamonds are not rare. They are controlled by the diamond merchants ( DeBeers in Amsterdam) and then sold through out the world.Most of the diamonds in the world are used for industrial purposes.

Answer 6

Innocent people in Africa are put to work to harvest the diamonds. Then the government controls the flow of the diamonds into the US. I suggest watching the movie "Blood Diamond" this movie is good, and factual.

Answer 7

By no means are industrial diamonds rare they are in a great abundance ..De Beers spends millions of dollars ,moving millions of tons of dirt to maybe recover 4 carts of gem quality diamonds . But high quality gem diamonds are very rare ..and when it comes to fancy coloured diamonds they are even more rare .It is not a scam . The only ignorance I see here is the uneducated opinions of your college professor's ..Furthermore ,no one ever seams to appreciate the industrial side of De Beers . The Advanced diamond products that save lives on a daily basics . The products they use in the medical industry or the contracting industry our government defence industry or even for the space shuttle to keep our people up there from getting burnt up on their return. You people need to wake up and face the truth about the diamond industry,. . De Beers has made all our lives easier , you are so deceived by the propaganda ,you are ignorant and uneducated of the reality .Next time you bag on De Beers take a good look into the advanced diamond products and  see all the things you would not have on and everyday basics if it was not for them . Facts  they have settled their problems with the US.

Answer 8

well people don't die over them for nothing...

google diamonds sierra leone

Answer 9

Diamonds are not rare at all.  There is a monopoly in most of the diamond mines from the company DeBeers I believe it is.  They control all of the diamonds in the world and what they do is hand out a few every year..Making the price more high because we tend to think they are rare.

Answer 10

Diamonds are rare it is a fact. The reason is because they are growing 140 to 190 km under the earth's surface, in the outer mantle. It only happens in a very limited area's near cratons (the oldest landmasses) and in very specific conditions of pressure and temperature, otherwise the atoms form as graphite for example, and they are sometimes delivered by a process called looking like a dry volcanic eruption. Sometimes after that, they are found in the pipes or near them, or after being transported trough water and rivers ...

It is a coincidence that we find them, absolutely.

Especially, because we are around at this time looking for the diamonds, now some of these made it to the earth's surface ...

Answer 11

Its just difficult to retrive them from the earth & it makes them rare & expensive.

Answer 12

No, they aren't really rare at all.  While they are a precious gem, rare they are not.  The only reason they are so "prized" is because the monopoly DeBeers has on the the industry.  They own I think 85-90% of the world's diamond mines.  They basically set the amount of diamonds they release every year, thereby setting the price.  The fewer diamonds there are, the higher the cost.  In fact, I'm pretty sure there's some type of warrant out for the arrest of any DeBeers executives in the U.S. because they are violating anti-trust laws.

EDIT:  Solarene-  While that movie is based in fact, and what those people in Africa are doing can be considered inhumane, cruel, slave-labor, or whatever you want to call it, where you say those diamonds are going is definitely skewed.  Yes, while the U.S. does get a substantial amount of them, many of them also go across Europe, Asia, even Canada.  They get shipped all over the world.  So to solely exclude the U.S. is unfair.  It's sad that Hollywood has a tendency to put out rhetoric like this on a regular basis to push their agenda.  People see these types of movies as absolute truth if they're the type that is trying to expose some social issue or injustice when much of a subject can be excluded, exaggerated or embelished.