The Latest Mining News On The Web De Beers profits tumble 99 pct By Citywire, July 24th, 2009 at 1:15 pm De Beers, the world's top producer of diamonds, has revealed its sales have all but vanished in the last six months as the recession took its toll. The group - which handles around 40% of theworld's rough diamond market- said net earnings for the... http://news.mining.com/2009/07/24/de-beers-profits-tumble-99-pct/
The diamond engagement ring is one of history's greatest scams. Cooked up and perpetrated by a diamond monopoly with the collusion of Hollywood. And De Beers lays the law that you have to spend 2 months salary to be worthy. I've only known one women that thought it a scam - she was from Europe. I regret losing that one.
+1 Diamonds are total bullshit. A great global marketing scheme that 99% of women/rappers fall for. Too bad she got away.
"However looking at the positives, it added the rate of decline in demand had slowed, and it was optimistic the second half would show signs of improvement." Yes there indeed is a sliver of light
Diamonds are not scam, their price and marketing is. You want a big stone, go to India and buy one, there is about 500% markup in us on diamond rings. So, that $3000 ring in US can be had in india for a lot less.
They're a scam because diamonds are actually many, many times more common that the population is led to believe. De Beers has essentially artificially driven the price of diamonds higher by buying up most of the world's mines and mining rights, especially in diamond intense fields in Africa and other regions where governments are corrupt and easily bribed, and then severely limiting the release and flow of diamonds onto the market in any given time frame. Generally speaking, of however many diamonds De Beers mines in a given year, they release less than 1% onto the market.