“The social and economic value of diamonds depends on where in the world they come from,” Mr. Moltke said on a video call from his home in Antwerp, Belgium, earlier this month. After leaving De Beers he moved to the diamond trading center city, where he worked for 16 years, including five years in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana.
“I saw firsthand the good these diamonds do and how important they are to communities that live far from them,” he said.
This month, International Diamond Center, a 12-store jewelry retailer based in Clearwater, Florida, plans to introduce BotswanaMark branded diamonds in four of its stores, Mr. Moltke said, adding that the consumer experience will be similar to the De Beers model.
Greg Kwiat, chief executive of Kwiat Diamonds, a diamond jewelry brand in New York City, said the company’s Mine to Shine traceability program, launched in June, was based on a desire to show how diamonds can positively impact communities in Africa. Do where they are mined.
Consumers who purchase quiat diamonds are able to trace their stones from the mine through the stages of cutting and setting into jewelry. “For now, we are sharing videos and photos of the process,” Mr Kwiat said. “In the end, you get this collected video from start to finish as a wonderful shareable memento.”
consumer pressure
The diamond industry has focused on proving the origin of mined diamonds since the late 1990s, when the blood-diamond crisis shook consumer confidence in the trade. In 2003, a coalition of governments, civil society and the diamond industry founded the Kimberley Process Certification SchemeThe purpose of which is to stop the flow of conflict diamonds.
