blood diamonds
There Are No Clean Diamonds: What You Need to Know About Canadian Diamonds
There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it.
We want to ensure that the public understand that Canada's Aboriginal communities are engaged in a daily power struggle to ensure that the mines benefit their people, and to ensure that these mines do not irreversibly damage the intricate web of life on which we all depend.
Campaigning to Stop "Blood" Diamonds
The Leonardo DiCaprio film Blood Diamond, released December 8, 2006, draws important attention to the terrible price that has been paid to mine and market diamonds from Africa. The film follows on two decades of campaigning by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada. Mining companies, trading firms and jewellers have been playing a role in sustaining the bloody wars in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The coalition of NGOs called on each of these actors in the industry to address the issue.
In 1999, a united nations study in Angola cited diamonds as a key factor in warring factions' ability to procure weapons and transport. The report argued that many countries were helping to smuggle and launder Angolan diamonds for the rebels, and the U.N. concluded that the monitoring systems that were in place were "wholly inadequate" to monitor an illegal diamond trade.
The kimberly process was negotiated with diamond producing and processing countries to try to control the trade in conflict diamonds. Under this system, each link in the chain of custody must prove to third-party observers that it has effective processes for tracking a diamond while it is in possession. Entire national diamond-trading systems are certified at one time under the Kimberley Process, and governments, therefore, are relied upon to place pressure on their industries. The effectiveness of the Kimberley Process in stopping the flow of conflict diamonds is still unknown.
However, in Sierra Leone, other factors have come together to stop the war, and the diamonds produced there are still an important source of income for many of its citizens. The Network Movement for Justice and Development's Campaign for Just Mining in Sierra Leone does not want to see diamond mining stopped; they want justice, human rights and environmental protection for miners.
There is a continuing campaign led by Earthworks in the United States to get the jewellery industry to accept standards for their diamond sourcing, by following the Golden Rules.
"In a marketplace increasingly worried about blood diamonds -- called that because, amid reports of slave labour and torture, they have helped finance horrific civil wars in countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone -- Canadian gems have the additional cachet of being conflict-free. Producers here are initiating the concept of branded gems -- stones with a miniscule symbol like the maple leaf implanted on an edge -- and are charging a premium for them." (Katherine Macklem, Maclean's, September 8, 2003)
At the same time as the Conflict Diamonds Campaign was underway, Canada had become a diamond – producing nation at the hands of the same transnationals that were plundering diamonds and gold in Africa. Northern Aboriginal peoples were faced with demands from competing and impatient mining companies to stake, explore and to develop mines on their traditional territories. Their lives have been transformed by the complicated and time-consuming negotiations required to protect the interests of their people. And now, they are also being transformed by the impacts of the mines themselves.
"In your eyes," (De Beers' Nicky Oppenheimer) told Harvard Business School alumni in Cape Town, "I must be the devil incarnate, the Antichrist. For I am chairman of De Beers, a company that likes to think of itself as the world's best-known and longest-running monopoly. We make no pretence that we are not seeking to manage the diamond market, to control supply, to manage prices and to act collusively with our partners in the business." (Victor Mallet, "Rock Hard Beneath the Old Charm", Financial Times, October 18, 1999.)
When communities have to make the terrible choice to sell their land and labour for diamond money, they need the power to protect their interests in dealing with these giants.
Canada has three operating diamond mines: BHP-Billiton's Ekati and Rio Tinto's Diavik mines in the Northwest Territories and Tahera's Jericho mine in Nunavut (where Teck Cominco recently took a 25% share). DeBeers has the Victor Mine under construction on the James Bay Coast of northern Ontario. DeBeers also has Snap Lake – an underground mine in the development phase in the NWT. DeBeers has also filed applications to operate another diamond mine at Gacho K'ue, about 90 km southeast of Snap Lake, but is fighting the more rigorous environmental assessment that has been ordered.
The grade of Canada's diamond mines vary from Victor's average 0.23 carats per tonne of ore, to Ekati's 1.8 carats/tonne and Diavik's 3 carats per tonne.
Diamond exploration expenditures were $251 million in 2005, with the Northwest Territories, followed by Nunavut and Saskatchewan with its Fort-à-la-Corne activity, led all Canadian jurisdictions, followed by northern Ontario and the Otish Mountains area of Quebec.
There are no clean diamonds. Exploring for them, digging them out of the ground and selling them requires sacrifices from the natural environment, from the wildlife and fish that live on it, and from the Aboriginal people who depend on it.
We want to ensure that the public understand that Canada's Aboriginal communities are engaged in a daily power struggle to ensure that the mines benefit their people, and to ensure that these mines do not irreversibly damage the intricate web of life on which we all depend.
Campaigning to Stop "Blood" Diamonds
The Leonardo DiCaprio film Blood Diamond, released December 8, 2006, draws important attention to the terrible price that has been paid to mine and market diamonds from Africa. The film follows on two decades of campaigning by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Global Witness and Partnership Africa Canada. Mining companies, trading firms and jewellers have been playing a role in sustaining the bloody wars in Sierra Leone, Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The coalition of NGOs called on each of these actors in the industry to address the issue.
In 1999, a united nations study in Angola cited diamonds as a key factor in warring factions' ability to procure weapons and transport. The report argued that many countries were helping to smuggle and launder Angolan diamonds for the rebels, and the U.N. concluded that the monitoring systems that were in place were "wholly inadequate" to monitor an illegal diamond trade.
The kimberly process was negotiated with diamond producing and processing countries to try to control the trade in conflict diamonds. Under this system, each link in the chain of custody must prove to third-party observers that it has effective processes for tracking a diamond while it is in possession. Entire national diamond-trading systems are certified at one time under the Kimberley Process, and governments, therefore, are relied upon to place pressure on their industries. The effectiveness of the Kimberley Process in stopping the flow of conflict diamonds is still unknown.
However, in Sierra Leone, other factors have come together to stop the war, and the diamonds produced there are still an important source of income for many of its citizens. The Network Movement for Justice and Development's Campaign for Just Mining in Sierra Leone does not want to see diamond mining stopped; they want justice, human rights and environmental protection for miners.
There is a continuing campaign led by Earthworks in the United States to get the jewellery industry to accept standards for their diamond sourcing, by following the Golden Rules.
- Respect for basic human rights outlined in international conventions and law
- Free, prior, and informed consent of affected communities
- Safe working conditions
- Respect for workers' rights and labour standards (including the eight core International Labour Organisation conventions)
- Ensure that operations are not located in areas of armed or militarized conflict
- Ensure that projects do not force communities off their lands
- No dumping of mine wastes into the ocean, rivers, lakes, or streams
- Ensure that projects are not located in protected areas, fragile ecosystems or other areas of high conservation or ecological value
- Ensure that projects do not generate sulphuric acid in perpetuity
- Cover all costs of closing down and cleaning up mine sites
- Fully disclose information about social and environmental effects of projects
- Allow independent verification of the above
"In a marketplace increasingly worried about blood diamonds -- called that because, amid reports of slave labour and torture, they have helped finance horrific civil wars in countries such as Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone -- Canadian gems have the additional cachet of being conflict-free. Producers here are initiating the concept of branded gems -- stones with a miniscule symbol like the maple leaf implanted on an edge -- and are charging a premium for them." (Katherine Macklem, Maclean's, September 8, 2003)
At the same time as the Conflict Diamonds Campaign was underway, Canada had become a diamond – producing nation at the hands of the same transnationals that were plundering diamonds and gold in Africa. Northern Aboriginal peoples were faced with demands from competing and impatient mining companies to stake, explore and to develop mines on their traditional territories. Their lives have been transformed by the complicated and time-consuming negotiations required to protect the interests of their people. And now, they are also being transformed by the impacts of the mines themselves.
"In your eyes," (De Beers' Nicky Oppenheimer) told Harvard Business School alumni in Cape Town, "I must be the devil incarnate, the Antichrist. For I am chairman of De Beers, a company that likes to think of itself as the world's best-known and longest-running monopoly. We make no pretence that we are not seeking to manage the diamond market, to control supply, to manage prices and to act collusively with our partners in the business." (Victor Mallet, "Rock Hard Beneath the Old Charm", Financial Times, October 18, 1999.)
When communities have to make the terrible choice to sell their land and labour for diamond money, they need the power to protect their interests in dealing with these giants.
Canada has three operating diamond mines: BHP-Billiton's Ekati and Rio Tinto's Diavik mines in the Northwest Territories and Tahera's Jericho mine in Nunavut (where Teck Cominco recently took a 25% share). DeBeers has the Victor Mine under construction on the James Bay Coast of northern Ontario. DeBeers also has Snap Lake – an underground mine in the development phase in the NWT. DeBeers has also filed applications to operate another diamond mine at Gacho K'ue, about 90 km southeast of Snap Lake, but is fighting the more rigorous environmental assessment that has been ordered.
The grade of Canada's diamond mines vary from Victor's average 0.23 carats per tonne of ore, to Ekati's 1.8 carats/tonne and Diavik's 3 carats per tonne.
Diamond exploration expenditures were $251 million in 2005, with the Northwest Territories, followed by Nunavut and Saskatchewan with its Fort-à-la-Corne activity, led all Canadian jurisdictions, followed by northern Ontario and the Otish Mountains area of Quebec.